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Tea bowl, coffee cup and saucer

Tea bowl, coffee cup and saucer

ca. 1768

The porcelain formula of Worcester was different from other early English porcelain: it contained "soapy rock" (or soapstone) combined with ball clay and sand. The addition of soapstone made the porcelain resistant to crazing and cracking, which gave the Worcester manufactory a distinct advantage over its competitors when producing tea and coffee equipages.
Soft paste porcelain
.c Diam.: 5 in.
Kenneth and Priscilla Klepser Porcelain Collection
94.103.123
Provenance: [Mr T. Leonard Crow, Tewkesbury, England, until 1950]; sold to Mr and Mrs Kenneth and Priscilla Klepser, 1950-1994 (cf. Mr Crow’s letter dated September 22, 1950 to Mr Klepser); gift from Mr and Mrs Kenneth and Priscilla Klepser to Seattle Art Museum, Washington, 1994
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Worcester Porcelain: The Klepser Collection, August 8, 1985-September 22, 1985. 1984-85 circuit included: Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis Institute of Art; San Francisco, CA, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Atlanta, GA, High Museum of Art; Sarasota, FL, Ringling Museum of Art.

Published ReferencesSpero, Simon. Worcester Porcelain: The Klepser Collection. London: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in association with Lund Humphries Publishers, 1984, p. 105, p. 113, no. 123, illus. (b&w p. 113; color pl. 31)

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