This is a beautiful set of a teapot, a sucrier with cover, and a plate made by Worcester in its Flight period, around 1790. You can tell from the generous size of the teapot that it was from after the relaxation of the import duties on tea in 1784, when tea suddenly became much more affordable. The items are decorated in a black overglaze print of several versions of the "Ruins" pattern.
I have several Worcester items available in black print, which together make a wonderful little tea set, please see separate listings.
The Ruins pattern was very popular around this time, when many young gentlemen would go on the "Grand Tour" spending a year or two travelling through Europe and acquainting themselves with the Classics in Italy and Greece. You can see various scenes with impressive ruins and status, most also with small figures in the form of travellers or young students sketching the scenes. These patterns were designed by Robert Hancock, the important artist at the Worcester factory who brought in overglaze printing in about 1760.
The items are in the shanked (a twisted ribbed) shape, popular during the Flight period, with pointed finials.
The Worcester Porcelain Company was one of the first potteries in Britain to produce porcelain. Alongside other great potteries such as Derby, Chelsea and Bow, they pioneered a new industry that would grow out to be huge in the following century. This plate is from the first period, which is often called the "Dr Wall" period after its founder. In later years Worcester went through many different ownerships and styles, and ultimately it became the Royal Worcester factory that only finished operation in the early 21st Century.
The items are unmarked, as was common during this period.
PROVENANCE: all items from the collection of Geoffrey A. Godden, the Frank Herrmann Collection; the sucrier also from the collection of Adela Harding, with a label for the "Cambridge Exhibition 1902".
DOCUMENTATION: The exact same teapot is shown in plate 128 in "Worcester Porcelain 1751-1791" by Henry Sandon. An image of another teapot with the same decoration is shown in plate 478 on page 374 of "Worcester Porcelain 1751-1790 - The Zorensky Collection" by Simon Spero and John Sandon.
CONDITION REPORT All items are in excellent antique condition without any damage, repairs or crazing. There is some rubbing throughout. The sucrier has lost nearly all its gilding; the teapot has a matched cover in a different pattern. There is a small chip off the footrim of the plate, not visible when in position.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal, 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 teapot 22cm (8.75") between handle and spout and 17.5cm (7") tall incl. finial; sucrier 12cm (4.75") diameter at widest point and 13cm (5") tall incl. finial; plate 21cm (8.25") diameter and 4cm (1.5") high.
