POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Chelsea bone china teacup and saucer

Chelsea bone china teacup and saucer

Object No. A521

This bone china teacup and saucer were made by the Chelsea porcelain factory, one of the earliest and most significant ceramic manufactories in England founded in 1744.  They were designed at a time when Chelsea produced some of its most extravagant designs, although this set is a more restrained example. Chelsea cultivated fashionable clientele and this design illustrates the influence of the French rococo style on Chelsea forms and patterns.  The impact of rococo designs was in full force in the 1760s when the scrolling and lavishly gilded designs of the Royal French porcelain factory at Sevres replaced those of Meissen in Germany. The teacup and saucer illustrate the use of the 'Mazarin' blue ground colour, in imitation of Sevres’ dark gros bleu, which was used at the Chelsea factory from 1756. Made in the height of the English tea-drinking craze, Chelsea porcelain tea wares were indispensable in the tea drinking 'polite society'.  Fashionable women delighted in using and collecting the latest designs but were increasingly criticised for their pursuit of what were deemed by some to be trivial objects associated with tea parties and gossip. Markela Panegyres, Curatorial Assistant, and Eva Czernis-Ryl, Curator, 2020 References Gordon Campbell (ed.), The Grove encyclopaedia of decorative arts, New York, 2006 Karen Harvey, 'Barbarity in a Teacup? Punch, Domesticity and gender in the eighteenth Century.' Journal of Design History 21, no 3 (2008): 205-21. Accessed April 28, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25228589.

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Summary

Object Statement

Teacup and saucer, bone china, Chelsea Porcelain Factory, Chelsea, England, c. 1760s

Physical Description

Bone china moulded (embossed) teacup and saucer painted with coloured enamels and gilt with floral and foliate rococo motifs between latticed rocaillles set against dark blue and white (resevered) background; gilt rims, loop handle, short and plain footrim with a single gilt line around.

PRODUCTION

Notes

In 1770 the Chelsea porcelain factory was purchased by William Duesbury of Derby porcelain factory who ran it until 1784. The factory continued to operate in Chelsea but during this time the Chelsea wares were very similar to Duesbury's Derby wares and the period is known as Chelsea-Derby.

SOURCE

Credit Line

Purchased 1906

Acquisition Date

1 June 1906

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