Today a mystery... Is this a Caughley teapot, or is it Worcester?
This beautiful little pot was made in the 18th Century, possibly as early as 1770, possibly a bit later, around 1785. It has the simple and pleasing "globe" shape with an adorable flower finial, and bears a bright "Compagnie des Indes" pattern of pink flowers and a pink latticed rim. This pattern was popular on Chinese Export porcelain, and the early British porcelain factories quickly imitated it.
I bought this teapot as Worcester, but for some reason never felt completely sure about it - the flower finial is slightly different from other Worcester pots I have had, and the pattern is slightly different than usual: it is without the usual gilt laurel wreath around the flowers.
I then found several identical pots that an expert told me were made by Caughley in Shropshire, not Worcester. Is it? Personally I don't know that much about Caughley, except that they always worked together very closely with Worcester, Chamberlains and of course were the forerunner of Coalport. I did change the attribution anyway, as it seems likely to me - but I could be wrong!
Did Caughley do a very good imitation of the extremely popular Worcester pots? Or is this indeed a Worcester pot, but did they decide for some reason to leave out the gilt laurel wreath? I welcome any comments - please share your knowledge!
Happy new year to everyone, and get some flowers to make it through this cold winter!
This week's new treasures: