NOW OUT OF PRINT.
New Colour Edition due
for 2010
Other related books that are reccomended
:-
IN STOCK 2006 - DIRECTORY
OF BRITISH TEAPOTS . 384 pages. Over 2000 colour illustrations.
Hardback.d/w. £ 50.00
See the THE GALLERY
and buy it now.
Cabinet of British Creamers - Creamers or milk jugs 1,100 all in colour, most prior
to 1850. £ 30.00
You can view the cover and buy this book here:-
THE GALLERY
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The one item that perhaps 90% of all
British ceramic collectors will certainly own, or have purchased
at some time, is a tea cup, coffee cup, cup & saucer or a
trio. With tea drinking increasing in popularity from the 1750's
onwards, followed by coffee, the British ceramic manufacturers
started to produce their own wares to compete with the Chinese
teawares,which were often imported with the tea itself into this
country. A full 18th century tea service of around 1775 would
have comprised a teapot & stand, a tea cannister & lid,
a cream or milk jug (sometimes with a lid), a sugar bowl ( or
sucrier) with lid, a slop or waste bowl, a spoon tray, 2 saucer
dishes ( or plates ), 12 tea bowls, 6 or 12 coffee cups, and
12 saucers. Sometimes a lidded coffee pot was also added. Apart
from the tea cannister and spoon tray, and the change from tea
bowls to cups with handles, a tea service continued in this form
into the 20th century.
Tea cups and coffee cups generally outnumber saucers by 2 to
1, and collectors are often offered a trio of a coffee cup, tea
cup or bowl and a saucer. Single tea bowls, tea cups and coffee
cans are often found orphaned from the rest of the service.
Recognising the demand for a book on this subject, and after
years of collecting the examples, compiling the information,and
forming illustrations from other collections, Michael Berthoud
published the Anthology of British cups in 1982. This was superseded
by the Compendium of British Cups in 1990, which is still available
today.
The book is, with out doubt one of the most
useful and used publications for collectors or dealers worldwide.
Covering cups from the 1750's to the 1950's, but with the bulk
of the book featuring wares from the 1790 to 1880 period.
The 1500 plus illustrations are arranged by
date and handle form, the handle shape and moulding being the
most distinctive part of any cup, apart from tea bowls of course,
Finding cups with ,for example, a ring type handle, is merely
a matter of selecting the relevant section and comparing the
physical handle and shape with those illustrated. Each page illustrates
6 cups with information on the diameter and height, manufacturer
if known, pattern number if any, description of the decoration
and gilding, source or collection, and references to other publications
in particular the companion to this work 'Anthology of British
Teapots" and Geoffrey Godden's Encyclopaedia of British
Pottery and Porcelain marks" ( reviewed as No.1 on this
site).
There are 8 pages of colour plates illustrating 48 cups and an
example page is shown here.
The introductory notes are a gold mine of information on recognising
various manufactures by the gilding on the handles, the naming
of cup shapes such as 'Royal Flute', and information on pattern
numbers and identification of Copeland & Garret cups from
the 1833 to1847 period.
Of course, apart from identifying a cup shape, the book can be
used for attributing other shapes, such as plates, in your possession
by using the illustrated patterns within the book.
Illustrated below are two examples from the book, a simple Caughley
1780 coffee cup, and a tea cup by Hobson's of Longton dated 1907.
The Caughley coffee cup is unmarked and decorated with a simple
pattern in gold, but the type of fluted body and the flattened
thumb rest on top of the handle are the clues to its maker.
The tea cup illustrates quite clearly the continuing practice
of repeating cup shapes over a long period of time. If this cup
had no makers mark or pattern number it could be taken for an
item produced in the 1830's of almost identical shape by Coalport
and other manufacturers. Only by a careful study of the differences
in the handle moulding and a knowledge gained by experience of
the differences in gilding and decoration techniques, would you
separate the earlier from the later. Fortunately most items from
1890 onwards bear a factory mark, but for dating cups between
1800 and 1880 the Compendium of British Cups is an invaluable
tool of the trade and a welcome friend at the end of a weekend
buying trip.
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