Rare Worcester Strap Fluted Cup and Saucer c1756
Directory: Antiques: Decorative Art: Ceramics: English: Porcelain: Pre 1800: Item # 1463305
Please refer to our stock # zp948 when inquiring.
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A beautiful, extremely rare, and early First Period Worcester coffee cup and saucer, each piece finely molded with fluting resembling pleats. The small, bell shaped cup has a crisply molded triple scroll handle with a pronounced thumb rest and a full blown rose in the inside. Both pieces have a strap-fluted ground reserving embossed rococo cartouches edged with scrollwork and leaves in purple and green enamel, the principal panels painted in bright puce with European landscapes including a ruined tower, the smaller panels and borders formed of purple scrollwork and formal colored plant sprigs.
Important: A pre-firing large scratched A is on the bottom of the saucer. The cup is 2 1/16" in height and the saucer has a 4 11/16" diameter. Both pieces are in excellent condition, with no cracks, scratching, paint loss, etc.
NOTES: 1. A similar trio is illustrated by John Sandon (1993), p. 319. A single coffee cup is illustrated by H Rissik Marshall (1954) pl. 6, fig. 87A.
2. The mold for a "strap fluted" saucer survived at the Worcester factory and is illustrated by R.L. Hobson (1910), pl. 14, fig. 4. This mold, and unglazed wasters from the factory site, reveal the great skill of the modellers who created this molding, which at the time was unique to the Worcester factory.
3. A similar cup and saucer sold at Christies London Sale of 7/7/2097 lot 69 for 2760 pounds ($4650). Another sold at the Butti Collection Sale at Bonham's on 5/10/2002 for 4320 pounds ($8050).