18th-Century First Period Worcester Porcelain Queen Charlotte Pattern Large Coffee Cup and Saucer

Details

Description

First Period Worcester Porcelain Queen Charlotte Pattern Large Coffee Cup and Saucer

This rare and unusually large First Period Worcester … Read more First Period Worcester Porcelain Queen Charlotte Pattern Large Coffee Cup and Saucer

This rare and unusually large First Period Worcester porcelain coffee cup and saucer is decorated in the celebrated "Queen Charlotte" pattern, known in the literature also as the "Catherine Wheel" or "whorl" pattern, one of the factory's most visually commanding Japan patterns in the Imari taste.

The decoration is organized as a series of boldly radiating, spiraling panels. The broader panels carry a deeply saturated underglaze cobalt blue ground reserved in white with scrolling shells, stylized foliage and fan and C-scroll motifs, each outlined and heightened in gilding with characteristic First Period precision. The narrower intervening panels are left in the white and painted with pendant chains of iron-red and pink blossoms and heart-shaped forms descending to a fine iron-red tassel, a passage of particular delicacy, alternating with bold scrolling forms and hanging floral clusters washed in a warm rose-pink enamel that give the composition its weight and chromatic depth. The rim of the cup is bounded by a continuous band of iron-red scrolls and flowerheads beneath a gilt line. On the saucer the panels radiate from a central white roundel enclosing a single pink jewel motif ringed with iron-red dots, the whole terminating at the same scrolling iron-red border with a gilt edge.

The cup is of notably substantial size, with a full, gently rounded body narrowing to a neat foot ring and a plain loop handle left in the white, a larger form than the usual First Period coffee cup. The body is of fine, close-grained soapstone porcelain beneath the luminous, faintly green-tinted glaze characteristic of Worcester production of this decade, and the interior of the cup is left white beneath a gilt rim line.

In a collection this rare oversized cup and saucer holds its own beside standard tea wares in the same pattern, and on its own it reads as a small, brilliant object for a bookshelf, a mantel or a cabinet where the swirl of blue, iron red and pink catches the eye from across a room.

Dimensions
Coffee cup: Height: 3 1/8 inches (7.9 cm)
Coffee cup: Width, handle to lip: 3 7/8 inches (9.8 cm)
Coffee cup: Diameter: 2 3/4 inches (7.0 cm)
Saucer: Diameter: 5 3/4 inches (14.6 cm)

Marks
Fretted square (pseudo-Chinese seal) mark in underglaze blue to the base of each piece, within a single painted underglaze blue circle, consistent with Worcester production of the Dr. Wall period.

Provenance
Private Collection, New York
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

Condition
The coffee cup and saucer are in good antique condition. The underglaze cobalt blue retains its characteristic depth and intensity, the iron-red enamels are vibrant and well preserved, and the pink enamel passages remain strong. The gilding shows some wear consistent with age and use but remains clearly legible throughout. Both pieces are free of chips, cracks or restoration.

Historical Context
The "Queen Charlotte" pattern is one of the group of Worcester "Japan" patterns adapted from Arita porcelain imported into England in the early eighteenth century, its palette of underglaze blue, iron red, pink and gilding following the Imari originals. It was traditionally named for Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, following the royal visit to the Worcester factory in 1788, but the design was already in production in the Dr. Wall period, and the fretted square mark in underglaze blue found here is the pseudo-Oriental seal mark characteristic of the factory's Japan patterns of the years around 1765–1775, completing the deliberate evocation of the East. The pattern continued in production at Worcester under Flight and Flight & Barr into the early nineteenth century. It is most often found on tea wares of standard size; coffee cups of this enlarged form are considerably scarcer. See less