Antique 1886 Royal Worcester 2 Bone China Demitasse Cups & Saucers Pink & Blue

  

These are 2 lovely antique Royal Worcester demitasse cups and saucers, made in 1885 during the aesthetic period. They are decorated in a chintz pattern of flowers amongst ferns, one set in blue and one set in pink.

Their handles are painted flat brown! This aesthetic style became popular to get away from the fussiness and over decoration of the Victorian era and to get back to beautiful things in nature.

Also, rather than a gold handle, flat brown as in nature. A unique and rare combination.

This showed up in how they decorated china, and also in the design of furniture, houses, and more. The backstamp on the sets shows the crown on the circle with stylized W's and a 51 in the center with an X at the bottom of the circle, on the pink set, and a W on the blue set.

The X was used in 1886 and the W in 1885 according to museumofroyalworcester. The blue set only has that backstamp on the cup. Interestingly there is a handpainted red "W1632" on all the pieces, although it's not as clear on the bottom of the blue cup.

That could be the Royal Worcester pattern #, since it is the same on both sets. There is also W 7 impressed into the china of the blue saucer, and a W 11 impressed into the pink saucer, which is the date the saucers were made, July 1885 and November 1885, the pink & blue backstamps on top of the glaze referring to when the sets were decorated.

Worcester factory began making porcelain in 1751, with a recipe perfected by Dr. John Wall, which meant the porcelain could withstand boiling water without cracking. Before this time, a teapot had to be pre-warmed with hot water, before pouring the hot water to steep the tea. When Thomas Flight owned the company, they were granted a royal warrant, and the company name became Royal Worcester as it is now known.

So the 51 in the center of the backstamps is for the company's beginning in 1751. The demitasse cups hold 1/3 cup easily, are 2 & 1/8 inches in diameter, and 2 & 1/8 inches tall. The saucers are 4 & 1/2 inches in diameter. One set weighs about 4.5 ounces.

The next to last picture shows a cup and saucer set next to a regular size teacup and saucer so you can get a good idea of its size. These lovely sets are in excellent condition and I see no chips or cracks but there is fine crazing, as is common with older English bone china. There is little wear if any wear to the design, I see a few very light marks in the glaze of the saucers looking at an angle to the light.

There is just a bit of wear to the flat brown on the handles, and a little rub wear to the gold on the edges of the cups and saucers. Also can see some light scuffing in the glaze on the inside bottom of the pink cup. I just noticed a small nick on the underside unglazed rim where the saucer rests when put down, on the pink saucer. There is very little, if any, wear to the floral and leaf transfer design. Please zoom in on the pictures and see the 360 degree video for a closer look. Any questions, please ask and thanks for looking!