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Coffee can and saucer: C.24 & A-2013

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Factory: Copeland

Entities

Categories

Description

Bone china decorated with blue ground colour, reserves painted with birds and flowers in polychrome enamels, and gilding

Bone china, decorated with a dark blue ground, painting in blue, green, yellow, puce, red, purple, brown, and black enamels, and gilding. The cup is cylindrical with an angular handle. The saucer is circular with deep sloping sides and recessed base. The upper part of the cup is decorated with a broad band of blue ground with gold dotted circles over it, interrupted by a rectangular reserve containing a polychrome exotic bird and two smaller oval reserves containing a flower. The lower part has three spaced insects. There are gold bands above and below the blue ground and round the reserves, round the base, and down the sides of the handle which also has three groups of strokes on its back, and tiny dots on the top and the lower part. The saucer has a central exotic bird surrounded by three butterflies, and on the sides, a blue ground overlaid by dotted gold circles, interrupted by three oval reserves containing respectively a daffodil, a violet and an orange daisy. There are gold bands round the central area, the reserves, and the top edge.

Notes

History note: Ronald Spencer Copeland (1918-2002); William Copeland (b. 1966); sold Bonham’s, 23-24 July, 2013, The Contents of Trelissick House including the Copeland China China Collection, Feock, Trelissick, Cornwall, 2nd day, 4th part of lot 713.

Legal notes

Purchased with the L.D. Cunliffe Fund

Place(s) associated

  • Stoke-on-Trent ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (2013-10-14) by Bonhams

Dating

20th Century, Early
Edward VII
George V
Circa 1903 CE - 1906 CE

Note

The design of this coffee cup and saucer appear to have been derived from the hard-paste porcelain service of made at Tournai for the duc d'Oréans, c. 1787-92, which featured bird decoration after illustrations in the comte de Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux (see C.15 & A-1948 which may be from that service). A large number of pieces from the duc d'Oréans' service were purchased by George IV.

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamel ( blue, green, yellow, puce, red, purple, brown, and black) ground colour ( dark blue from cobalt) gold
Saucer Diameter 10.3 cm Height 2.5 cm
Cup Diameter 5 cm Height 4.4 cm Width 6.5 cm
Handle

Materials used in production

clear Glaze
Bone china

Techniques used in production

Glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: D/05 or D/03 or D/06
  • Location: On base of saucer
  • Method of creation: Impressed
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: below a crown

  • Text: T. GOODE &Co/LONDON/COPELAND’S CHINA/ENGLAND
  • Location: On base of both pieces
  • Method of creation: Printed underglaze in green, paler on cup than on saucer
  • Type: Factory mark incorporating retailer's mark
  • Text: five-pointed star
  • Location: On base of cup
  • Method of creation: Printed underglaze in green
  • Type: Mark
  • Text: C1006/W or C1006/VW
  • Location: On base of saucer and base of cup but now almost obliterated
  • Method of creation: Painted in red enamel
  • Type: Pattern number
  • Text: I
  • Location: On base of saucer
  • Method of creation: Painted in bold
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: circular white paper stick-on label

  • Text: R/77/D
  • Location: On base of cup
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in blue biro
  • Type: Label

Inscription present: circular white paper stick-on Label

  • Text: R/77/E
  • Location: On base of saucer
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in blue biro
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.24 & A-2013
Primary reference Number: 197448
Old object number: R 77D and R 77 E
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 12 November 2013 Updated: Friday 15 December 2023 Last processed: Friday 15 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Coffee can and saucer" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/197448 Accessed: 2024-11-05 10:53:50

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/197448 |title=Coffee can and saucer |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 10:53:50|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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