The Tea Party thumbnail 1
The Tea Party thumbnail 2
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images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

The Tea Party

Cup and Saucer
ca. 1765 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This cup and saucer has transfer-printed decoration. This new technique revolutionised ceramic production in Britain. It allowed factories to reproduce high-quality decoration at very little cost once the copper transfer-printing plates had been engraved. The transfer-prints here show an elegant couple taking hot drinks from tea wares of the type made at Worcester. The factory's porcelain recipe included soaprock, which made its porcelain resistant to the shock of boiling water and therefore suitable for tea and coffee wares. People generally drank from handle-less tea bowls like this one during the early 1700s, but British factories were making teacups with handles by the 1740s.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Cups
  • Saucer
TitleThe Tea Party (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Steatitic soft-paste porcelain, thrown and turned, and transfer-printed in black enamel
Brief description
'The Tea Party' cup and saucer, soft-paste porcelain, transfer-printed in black enamel, Worcester porcelain factory, England, ca. 1765
Physical description
Handless cup in a deep saucer. Both cup and saucer are decorated with versions of the subject known as 'The Tea Party' from a plate by Robert Hancock; the saucer being signed with the monogram 'R.H' and the word 'Worcester' under an anchor; it shows a man and a lady sitting on a bench in a garden taking tea, with a spaniel at their foot. The cup is decorated on one side with the subject known as 'Maid and Page', also form a plate by Hancock, an don the bottom, inside, with a swan.
Credit line
Given by the Hon Mrs. Ionides
Object history
cf. Schneiber I, 646.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This cup and saucer has transfer-printed decoration. This new technique revolutionised ceramic production in Britain. It allowed factories to reproduce high-quality decoration at very little cost once the copper transfer-printing plates had been engraved. The transfer-prints here show an elegant couple taking hot drinks from tea wares of the type made at Worcester. The factory's porcelain recipe included soaprock, which made its porcelain resistant to the shock of boiling water and therefore suitable for tea and coffee wares. People generally drank from handle-less tea bowls like this one during the early 1700s, but British factories were making teacups with handles by the 1740s.
Bibliographic references
  • Young, Hilary. English Porcelain, 1745-95. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1999. 229p., ill. ISBN 1851772820.
  • Goff, M., Goldfinch. J., Limper-Herz, K., and Peden, H. Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain. The British Library, London, 2013. p.69
Collection
Accession number
C.93&A-1948

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Record createdDecember 3, 2002
Record URL
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