Object Type
Tea was generally drunk from handle-less tea bowls like this one during the early 18th century, but handled teacups were made in Britain by the 1740s. These were more costly to make than tea bowls, and they didn't pack tightly together for carriage to distant markets. Tea bowls were usually low and wide, probably because the aroma of tea is better appreciated from an open bowl. Satirical prints of the years around 1800 occasionally show tea being drunk from the saucer, but it is clear that this was not done in polite company. Afternoon and after-dinner tea were generally served by the lady of the house in the drawing room in comfortably-off households.

Materials & Making
The Worcester porcelain factory's raw materials included soaprock, which resulted in a type of porcelain that was resistant to the thermal shock of boiling water. Worcester's recipe was therefore suitable for tea and coffee wares. The decoration on these pieces was first printed onto a sheet of paper or animal glue, and the image then transferred onto the glazed surface of the wares. The invention of transfer printing revolutionized ceramic production in Britain. This allowed factories to reproduce high-quality decoration at very little cost per unit once the copper transfer-printing plates had been engraved.