Pattern 517 Spode bone china Bute shape Tea Cup & Saucer produced by Josiah Spode II c1803, it is all hand-painted & decorated in a variation of the 'French Sprig' design. 'French Sprig' had been popular in the late 18th century & had been produced by several early English porcelain manufacturers (Worcester, Caughley & Derby). The design had also been produced by several ceramic manufacturers in France and came to the UK from France hence its name. It was a design that would wane in fashion terms very quickly once Spode had produced his version due to the outbreak of war with France later that same year.
Hand decorated using red, blue, green & yellow enamels together with gilding, it is another 'controlled nature' French design. Yellow enamel had been particularly popular during the late 18th century & early c1800-5 period.
Notice that the gilding on the saucer rim is worn just on one side, I suspect that the owner perhaps either held it on one particular side or drank from it on one particular side. It was quite common for people to tip some of their cup of tea into their saucer to cool the contents down and to drink from the saucer.
You will also notice that this saucer does not have a 'well' in which the cup sits, this situation did not change until around 1824. Cups really do skid around the saucer in a very alarming manner without these wells and no doubt it contributed to 'many a slip between cup & lip'.
A pretty little flower at the base of the tea cup
Both pieces are unmarked to their bases which was very common at this time.
Pattern 517 Spode New Oval shape bone china Creamer hand-painted in the 'French Sprig' design. This pattern dates to c1803 but the New Oval shape was introduced at Spode c1805. It is in very good condition for its age.
This simple design would have needed to have probably 4 or 5 firings in Spode's bottle kilns because of the different colours used & their different temperature requirements together with the gilding; thus the original cost of Spode's bone china would have reflected this.
This is a lovely piece of English porcelain of c1805.
Porcelain collectors can be rather snooty about pieces produced in the 19th century rather than the 18th century (particularly on a pattern such as this one which had been around for many decades) but both Josiah Spode I & II were revolutionary in their more automated production of quality ceramics; this was the birth place of modern mass production methods in Stoke-on-Trent, the British home of ceramics, which enabled the middle-classes & then the lower-classes to be able to afford what was once considered only a luxury for the most elite of the world's societies.
Compare this gilding pattern down its handle to those illustrated in patterns 341 & 506. It's not as short as 341 or as long as 506, every gilder was working in a slightly different way and every gilder had different capabilities. This & similar problems would be standardised by Josiah Spode II & Henry Daniel his chief decorator.
Right at the base of the handle you can see where the porcelain split whilst firing; you can see this better in the last photograph.
Inside is relatively clean which is good for 1805
There are no maker's or decorator's marks on its base.
This creamer was part of the Andrew's Collection but the collection sticker had been removed when I acquired it. Derek & Yvonne Andrews were keen collectors of Spode ceramics for 30+ years but sadly both have passed away & their collection was put up for auction in recent times.