The elephant in the room
Happy Easter everyone! I've been laying low a bit while dealing with covid (thankfully the vaccine did its job so I am fine) but with the beginning of the first real spring weather here in the UK, I am springing back to work myself. And this Easter, I have some very special things to show.
So let's talk about the elephant in the room... quite literally. I came across this wonderful tea service not long ago and was lucky enough to get it onto my shelf, and am thrilled to offer it for sale.
This wonderful pattern is, indeed, called the Elephant Pattern and it was made by New Hall in about 1810. It is made of the typical "hybrid hard paste" porcelain that New Hall produced; an amended version of the hard paste porcelain recipe that New Hall had bought from the failed Bristol factory. The clever Staffordshire men knew that they could save fuel and therefore money by changing the production process a bit, and the result was this beautiful very fine greyish porcelain.
This porcelain is perfect for Oriental patterns as it colours really well with the underglaze blue paint that forms the basis of most Oriental decorations. And you can really see that here. The pattern consists of a wonderful scene: a temple on a hill, with a courtyard at the foot of the hill protected by a gate and some buildings. In the courtyard stands a large tree with lots of pomegranates. And outside the gate stands the elephant, shielding itself from the sun under a large tree with lavish gilt foliage.
It is very rare to find a full tea service that is in perfect condition, but this is such a find. It serves six people with both tea and coffee cups, but I have more cups and saucers available if you are interested... individual ones will be up on my website soon but in the meantime feel free to ask.
For now, I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend... and that you enjoy either the beginning of spring or, if you are down under, the last of the summer.
Where to find things
You can find all my tea services here, and all my available stock is here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story every single day.
Wish List â¤ď¸
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Happy weekend, and have some tea (or coffee)! đđđ
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This week's new treasures:â
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