Although the finest complete services are out of reach for most collectors, it is possible to find beautiful single pieces such as teabowls, coffee cups and saucers, teapots, jugs and chocolate beakers at reasonable prices.

Tea, coffee, and chocolate have been firm favourites with the British ever since a ‘drink called by the Chineans tcha’ was introduced in the 1630s, the first coffee house was opened in London in 1650, and chocolate was first advertised for sale as a drink in 1657. The three beverages were to have a profound influence on the ceramics industries of Britain and the rest of Europe. The high cost of tea when it first arrived in Europe was responsible for keeping early wares small, so that such a luxury item would not be wasted. (more…)

Remains now to take a look at some of the oddments around the room, which you might call furnishing accessories. The two odd-looking objects are knife boxes or cases. They date from times when silver cutlery was highly expensive in relation to servants’ wages and no householder would have dreamed of allowing the staff to take the silver out into the kitchen for washing. So after every meal the footmen were made to wash the cutlery in the dining-room, under the eagle eye of the butler or housekeeper—if not of the hostess herself. Water for this purpose was usually provided in one of the pedestal cupboards at either end of the sideboard. The idea of arranging the holes for the knives in rows was that by running an eye over the serried ranks of handles you could see at once if any were missing; if all were in order, the case could be locked and the key firmly kept by someone in authority, probably on the housekeeper’s jangling reticule. (more…)

For some years now prices have been steadily rising for a kind of ware which many of its buyers often do not realise is glass at all.

Perhaps most people will recognise it when I say that there are vases and boxes in a very characteristic sort of pale blue, with designs which appear to have been pressed from moulds. This blue is quite unmistakable, and although at one time one had to hunt for these pieces, nowadays they are very carefully brought out for your inspection and arranged in sets. (more…)

If you have anything like a Regency setting—say an arched alcove—you could scarcely have a better setting for a collection of jasper ware.

In case you find the term unfamiliar, this is what a good many people know simply by the name “Wedgwood.” To them it means all those vases, bowls, plaques, trays, boxes and so on in the famous “Wedgwood” blue, also lilac, sage green and other colours, decorated with white reliefs of classical figures. If you are going to collect it, however, it is worth knowing that many other potters besides Wedgwoods made it and also that other types of pottery and china were made by Wedgwoods. So it only seems reasonable to describe it by the name that Josiah Wedgwood himself used for it, after the jasper stone. (more…)

You will doubtless have seen figures and busts in an unglazed white porcelain—some shops have whole cabinets full of them. They are in what is calledParian ware, and when you see them like this it may well puzzle you to know why anyone should want to buy them,

I think it is well worth looking at this ware. Whereas the Victorians liked to have the odd piece about, usually under a glass case, to set off their heavy dark hangings and curtains, there are surely other things we could do with these things nowadays. What is more, in some sorts of Parian the white, is often attractively combined with tints and even glazes. (more…)

Look in any tray of jewellery, and a cameo will always stand out from the rest of the pieces there. This is probably because it gives us a picture of something—a classical head or a group of children—and we all like a picture.

But perhaps the word picture is rather misleading when we are talking about cameos. For a cameo, properly speaking is not just a “little picture“—in other words a “miniature”. Nor even is it just a piece of sculpture, or carving in low relief. It is, in fact, a kind of carving in layers of different colours or textures, so that something carved out of the top layer stands out in contrast to the ground beneath. (more…)