Flight & Barr Worcester Porcelain Salmon-colored Covered Chocolate Cups & Stands, Set of Nine

Flight & Barr Worcester Porcelain Salmon-colored Covered Chocolate Cups & Stands.

Set of Nine.

Circa 1794-1802.

The Regency Barr Worcester porcelain covered chocolate cups and stands have a stunning salmon ground with a wide band of a gilt Greek Key design around the neck and the edge of the rim.   The covers are surmounted by a circular ring handle with a "ribbon" tie at the base.  There is a handle to each side of the cup in an "ear-form" also highlighted in gold along the edges with a gilt line and along the back with an unusual gold squiggle.

These covered cups while primarily for display-thus the great condition, can actually be used for chilled soups, parfaits, pudding or, of course, hot chocolate!

It is remarkable to find so many that are together and survived in such fabulous condition.

Mark: Most have a incised B mark to the base of the cup and the stands and the interior of some covers.

Dimensions: Overall: 6 1/2 inches high x 5 1/2 inches diameter; Covered cup 5 1/8 inches high x 5 inches wide.

Reference: 
Flight & Barr Worcester Porcelain (Sandon, 1978) page 46 & 50.

The Ewers-Tyne Collection of Worcester Porcelain at Cheekwood, John Sandon, Page 143, No 89, for a Chamberlain Worcester example, circa 1805.  The author writes that elaborate cover chocolate cups developed on the Continent and became popular in England around 1770.  They did not accompany normal tea and coffee services and today most survive as single items or as pairs.  Significantly, you find very few chocolate cups in blue and white, for the drink was only served in homes that could afford the extravagance of chocolate....the Chamberlain account book of the time provide further evidence that chocolate cups were generally decorative rather than utilitarian objects.  Most were sold as a single object or as a pair, and they often bore expensive decoration such as finely painted views of figure subjects.  In more formal patterns they seem to have been sold as sets and when Nelson ordered his extensive "Japan" pattern breakfast set in 1802 it included six chocolate cups of this form...

(Ref: NY10282-nali)

Dimensions

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Condition report

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