Mass Production

During the last quarter of the 18th century the centre of the British porcelain industry was in the heartlands of the Staffordshire potteries. The New Hall factory of Shelton was just one of those producing large numbers of tea and coffee services for the rising urban middle classes in hard-paste porcelain, copying the clean shapes of late Georgian silver. Typical helmet-shaped cream jugs (£60-£100) and oval teapots decorated with small gilt or monochrome floral sprigs (£200-£500) can be identified by their pattern number.

Similarly decorated wares with straight or spiral flutes were produced at the W0rcester factories of Chamberlain and Flight, and also by Miles Mason, Caughley and Coalport. Covered sugar bowls were fashionable at the time, as were the commonly found saucer- shaped bread and butter dishes; sugar bowls now fetch as much as £80-£200.

19-century Teaware

As tea prices dropped at the start of the 19th century, porcelain tea caddies and teabowls went out of production, although earthenware teabowls were made until the 1820s.

Antique Collector Magazine

The search for finer porcelain for teawares resulted in Josiah Spode’s formula for bone china, in which large amounts of bone-ash had been added to the paste. Bone china was instantly in demand. The white, translucent, high-quality tea and coffee services were finely painted with romantic landscapes, flowers or figures, or bat-printed with designs taken from the engravings of Francesco Bartolozzi and Adam Buck. They were produced in large numbers; a cup and saucer can often be found at auction today for £50-£200 and a teapot f0r £300-£500.

Transfer-printing was also used on Spode’s earthenwares, and a wide range of exotic scenes in underglaze-blue appeared, the scene covering the entire surface. The ‘Blue Italian’ pattern is still made today.

Age of Revivals

Indian tea was introduced to Britain in the 1840s, and was served from teapots with moulded, scrolled rims and knops like ice- cream swirls. These were made during the 1830s, 40s and 5os in a R0coco Revival style.

Early Rococo Revival pieces generally have rich background colours, such as royal blue or claret, but these were soon replaced by restrained buffs and greys. Minton, Coalport, Davenport and Ridgway are just some of the factories that produced such services; prices range from £ 1 0 to £60 for a cup and saucer.

A multitude of borrowed styles appeared in the second half of the century, including japonaiserie designs. The Royal Crown Derby factory produced a number of services using the Imari palette of iron-red, underglaze-blue and gilding, pattern numbers 383 and 1128 being the most keenly collected.

Some of the finest services from the end of the 19th century are those made at Copeland and Royal Worcester, decorated with drops of enamel backed with foil to resemble jewels. Worcester also produced a range of boxed sets of coffee cups with gilded interiors and scenes of Highland cattle, game birds or hunting painted 0n the exteriors. A complete boxed set will fetch £1000-£5000 and single cups and saucers £ 100-£200.

Moustache cups are pieces of the period, designed to accommodate the extravagant moustaches fashionable around the turn of the century. These held back the moustache by means of a guard, and sell for £20-£30.

Japanese Teawares

The Japanese have been enthusiastic tea drinkers since the 8th century. The very first bowls used for tea were imported Chinese Song (Sung) stoneware, and later indigenous raku pottery was produced.

Limited quantities of porcelain teawares were made in Japan from the 17th century, mainly for export. Most are in the typical Oriental blue and white style, and a teabowl and saucer today fetches £150 or more at auction — 0r as much as £700 if painted with a European subject. Rich Imari colours of dark blue, iron-red and gold were also used, and odd teabowls sell for £30 upwards.

European demand for Japanese wares grew in the late 19th century, and increasing quantities of pottery and porcelain of varying quality were produced, including Satsuma wares from such factories as Kinkozan at Kyoto. Most date from the 1890s and sell for £20-£30 for a cup and saucer. Later Kinkozan output is better painted and more valuable.

Boxed sets were issued by other, inferior makers, most of which fetch around £300 a set. Banko ware was revived in the 19th century, made of grey stoneware and often in the form of a lotus or flowers. Cups and saucers sell for £110-£20, teapots for £30-£60.

The Kutani region issued many distinctive teawares using iron-red, black and gilding. But these pieces are often of poor quality, with odd cups and saucers often fetching only £1-£15. A flood of eggshell porcelain appeared from the end of the19th century until the 1930s. Most is badly painted and can be picked up for as little as £1 an item.

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