On offer is a beautiful set of a teacup, a breakfast cup and a saucer made by Swansea around the year 1820. This is an unusual trio; rather than consisting of a teacup and a coffee cup, it consists of a normal teacup and a larger "breakfast cup", suitable for a larger cup of tea with a lot more milk.
The Swansea pottery became famous for its high quality porcelain when William Billingsley, the porcelain genius from Derby, started producing it in 1816. Billingsley was famous for his extremely high quality porcelain that was finer and more translucent than had every been made in Britain. However, it caused high kiln wastage and commercially it was very difficult to make production viable. With the loss of its main investor in 1820 the factory was forced to stop porcelain production and return to earthenware. Due to the relatively short time of successful porcelain production and the high kiln wastage and therefore rather small output, Swansea items today are rare and hard to find - they are true collectors' items.
This beautiful set is potted in the "Paris fluted" style in simple white with some gilt bands and central details. The style is neoclassical and imitates the French style.
CONDITION REPORT This set is in excellent antique condition with no damage, crazing, repairs or significant wear, as visible in the pictures. The breakfast cup is a bit more rubbed than the teacup.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS (diameters): teacup 9.2cm (3 5/8"), coffee cup 8.2cm (3 1/4"), saucer 15cm (5 7/8").
Swansea trio, white Paris fluted teacup & breakfast cup, ca 1820
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We always aim to have happy customers so if you have an issue with or questions about your item, please contact us and we will do anything we can to resolve the issue with you!
