Rare Antique English Bone China Bat Printed Tea Service, by Ridgway, Pattern 1684/2, Circa 1830s - 22 pcs

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Rare Antique English Bone China Bat Printed Tea Service, by Ridgway, Pattern 1684/2, Circa 1830s

A rare and thoroughly distinguished … Read more Rare Antique English Bone China Bat Printed Tea Service, by Ridgway, Pattern 1684/2, Circa 1830s

A rare and thoroughly distinguished 22-piece English bone china tea service by the celebrated Staffordshire manufacturer Ridgway, decorated in the exceptionally refined bat printing technique with a charming pastoral shepherdess pattern and accented throughout with elegant yellow hand painted banding and foliate leaf adornments — a complete and largely intact service of considerable rarity, beauty, and collector significance.
Ridgway, operating from their celebrated Cauldon Place works in Hanley, Staffordshire, were among the finest and most technically accomplished English bone china manufacturers of the early 19th century, producing work of exceptional quality for both the domestic and export markets. This service bears the pattern number 1684/2 in gilt on the base — entirely consistent with Ridgway's well documented pattern numbering system of the 1820s and 1830s — firmly establishing both the maker attribution and the period of production. Significantly, pattern number 1684 represents an undocumented variant of the Cauldon Place gadroon tea service, featuring distinctive yellow hand painted banding and foliate decoration not recorded in the known Ridgway pattern documentation — a discovery of genuine interest to serious collectors and ceramics researchers alike.
The bat printed decoration is the service's most remarkable technical achievement. The pastoral shepherdess scenes — depicting an elegantly dressed figure with a bird and dog amid a romantic landscape of trees and foliage — are rendered with the extraordinary fineness and tonal delicacy that only bat printing could achieve, each scene transferred onto the brilliant white bone china body with an almost engraving-like precision that standard transfer printing techniques of the period could not approach. The gadroon and shell moulded edges of the pieces add a further layer of refined decorative detail, their crisp sculptural profiles complementing the delicacy of the printed decoration and the warmth of the yellow hand painted banding and leaf adornments with great elegance and sophistication.
The service comprises 22 pieces in total — eight cups and saucers, a lidded sugar box, teapot with lid, cream jug, slop bowl, and two serving plates — representing a generous and highly functional assembly of the essential components of a formal English Regency tea service. The bat printing and hand painted yellow decoration are clean, crisp, and well preserved throughout, retaining a freshness and clarity that speaks to the quality of the original production and the exceptional care with which this service has been kept over nearly two centuries.
Condition is honestly noted — one cup bears a chip, two cups have hairlines, and one saucer has a hairline — considerations entirely consistent with the age and fragility of bone china pieces subject to nearly 200 years of tea table service. The remaining 18 pieces are in good clean condition with only minor wear consistent with age.
A rare and beautiful Regency period tea service by one of England's most respected early 19th century bone china manufacturers — and a potentially significant addition to the documented record of Ridgway Cauldon Place production.
Pieces: 8 cups, 8 saucers, lidded sugar box, teapot with lid, cream jug, slop bowl, 2 serving plates — 22 pieces total
Maker: Ridgway, Cauldon Place, Hanley, Staffordshire
Pattern: Bat printed pastoral shepherdess; yellow hand painted banding and foliate adornments; Pattern No. 1684/2
Origin: England, Circa 1830s
Dimensions:

Teapot with lid: 11"L (handle to spout) × 6.5"W × 7"H
Sugar box with lid: 7.5" × 6" × 5"H
Cream jug: 6.25"L (spout to handle) × 4"W × 4.75"H
Slop bowl: 6.75" diameter × 3.75"H
Serving plates: 9" diameter × 1.25"H
Saucers: 5" diameter × 1.125"H
Cups: 4.5"L (including handle) × 4"W × 3"H
Condition: One cup chipped; two cups with hairlines; one saucer with hairline; minor wear throughout; bat printing and yellow hand painted decoration clean and well preserved
Sold as a complete 22 piece service
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