Coffee Can, Polychrome "Strutting Bird", Bow Porcelain, circa 1752

Modelled after a small Chinese blanc-de-Chine wine cup of Dehua, Fujian Province; the bowl with three single prunus sprigs. Thick glaze with some crazing around base. Green translucency. Base glazed but partially wiped. Provenance: Taylor Collection; Parkside Antiques Melbourne...

Decorated with an under-glaze blue print of a Chinese landscape, featuring a man at the window of a pagoda, admiring swans on the lake. Bow didn't produce very much in the way of ...

This is a very charming orphaned coffee cup made by the Bow Porcelain factory in about 1755. The cup is decorated in a Chinese "famille rose" peony pattern. This cup would have been part of a large tea service, and the tiny size shows how expensive coffee was in the 18th Century. The Bow Porcelain Factory was one of the first potteries in Britain to make soft paste porcelain, and most probably the very first to use bone ash, which later got perfected by Josiah Spode to what is now the universally used "bone china". Bow was the main competitor of the Chelsea Porcelain Factory, but where Chelsea made very fine slipcast porcelain, Bow made a different soft paste porcelain that tended to be softer and could be pressed into moulds. Bow served a larger public generally at lower prices. The factory was only in operation between 1743 and 1774, after which the tradition got incorporated into some of the later famous potteries such as Worcester and Derby. The cup is unmarked, which is normal for Bow items of this era. Condition report the cup is in excellent condition without any damage or repairs. There are various glazing imperfections, which are quite normal for porcelain of this era. Antique British porcelain...

This is a good quality coffee can that we attribute to the Coalport porcelain works, Shropshire, England, made during the John Rose period of the George 111rd years, circa 1805. The coffee can is nominally parallel, tapering slightly to the base, with a simple loop handle, with a slight lower kink and pointed attachments. It has a shallow foot recess with obtuse corner and is unmarked to the base. The pattern is beautifully hand painted in the French Chantilly style with cornflower sprigs in gold gilt and blue with red & green leaf detail to the lower half with an upper border continuous cornflower pattern, all between gold gilt rings with further gilt decoration to the outer handle and gilding around the lower rim. We date this piece to the late George third...