Pattern 2509 Spode bone china London shape Coffee Cups & Saucers introduced by Spode c1816. This design incorporates the border from Spode's earlier pattern 967 which was incredibly popular and it has been teamed with another, more recent, previous pattern 2384.
It is another Japanese Imari design with exotic birds & flowers in their native landscapes & it required a great deal of skilled & careful hand-painting & gilding by Henry Daniel's decorators & gilders. Having said that, if you look closely at the two coffee cups on the right you will notice that the exotic birds appear to be levitating & legless - obviously more coffee required!
Les Folies........., I like to see Spode's Coffee Cups doing the Cancan (although I prefer cans!)
Almost spotless but without flowers this time
Every piece of this set (8 saucers, 4 coffee cups & 4 tea cups) are all marked to their bases with either the pattern number '2509' or the pattern number '2509' & 'SPODE' in red enamel. Initially a saucer was shared with the tea cup & the coffee can/cup but perhaps by this period it was becoming more common to have a saucer for each?
High kicks across the stage
The show continues
Finish with more high kicks & the splits to wild applause - Josiah Spode II was ahead of his time!