- Museum number
- C194.1A
- Object
- Coffee cup, part of a set, soft-paste porcelain, Chelsea Porcelain Factory, 1752-1756
- Description
- a) Teacup, English, Chelsea, 1752-8; soft-paste porcelain decorated in enamel colours. The round-bodied cup with simple handle, brown rim, decorated with Meissen-type flowers, one large spray and three individual flowers with leaves, fine crack extending from rim to lower body of cup near handleb) The saucer, with trembleuse rim for the cup, decorated in similar manner with brown rim, one large spray of flowers, four small individual flowers and leaves spray of pansies in centre
- Materials
- Porcelain
- Inscription
- Red anchor on both cup and saucer.
- On display?
- Yes
Further description
- Simple name
- Cup
- Subject
- Naturalistic
- Dimensions
- regular: 6.0cm (w)
Coffee cup and saucer
Chelsea Porcelain Factory
Soft-paste porcelain, between 1752 and 1756
C194.1A and 4B
Tea is our National Drink. It’s drunk by everyone. In the eighteenth century it was an expensive luxury. To drink it was to make a statement about how rich and fashionable you were. It was responsibility of the mistress of the house to make and serve the tea. She held the key for the tea chest. Green tea was initially preferred but by the 1720s, cheaper black tea had become more popular. Boiling water was supplied from a tea kettle.
New forms appeared for serving and drinking the new hot drinks. Cups of different shapes were used to drink tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Tea pots were small and squat. Coffee pots were conical or pear-shaped.
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