Spode, Sèvres and the mystery of the 'tulip custard cup & stand'

Spode 'tulip custard cup & stand', pattern 2395 c1816

Here is one of my less successful photos of a Spode pot. But you can just see that it shows an unusual shaped bone china Spode 'custard cup & stand' - one of a pair in the Spode museum collection. I took this photo in about 2005 when I was curator and they were displayed in the main gallery of the museum.

In the museum documentation they were described as 'tulip custard cups & stands' but to me the design never felt like a tulip. I am not entirely convinced of the custard cup description either but will stick with it...

The surface pattern and the shape are entered in the Spode pattern books as number 2395. This was first recorded in about 1816.

Hard to tell from my snaps but the 'tulip custard cups & stands' are really beautiful items with moulded decoration which is handpainted. They are richly gilded in a very elegant way. Not just the detail on the painted foliage but also gilded inside the lip of the cup, under the rim of the saucer and around the foot rim, which would hardly have been seen. Truly the mark of something for the extremely well-to-do.

A shelf of richly decorated wares including the pair of 'tulips'

I will now treat you to another poor photo of mine of a shelf of pots in the old museum display so that you can see the pair (just), as well as getting a feel of the size. The 'shoes' are slipper inkwells and together with the oblong tray for pens and the tiny candlestick, perhaps for melting sealing wax, are all from desk sets. The bottles with stoppers are for perfume.

But persevere and stay with me for better photos.

Spode cup & saucer, bone china, tulip decoration, butterfly handle c1815

I did find another Spode piece which is surely more correctly described as a tulip design. It is in the V&A collections and is also catalogued as a custard cup. Again it is bone china and richly decorated, but this time in stunning tulip colours, with superb gilding. The clever design of the gilding inside the cup is similar to that on pattern 2395 which, of course, you can't see clearly from my image... oh dear.

After researching this design I finally solved the mystery behind the Spode non-tulip 'tulip custard cup and stand'. There is a very strong French connection.

To put Spode's wares into context, the production and success of a beautiful new English porcelain from Spode, i.e. what we now call bone china, led to this description from Antoinette Fay-Hallé, Curator of the Sèvres factory, France:

'The Spode factory was without doubt

the most important factory in the 19th century.'

Spode's bone china was translucent, very white and resonant. Of superb quality it was intended to compete with and be on a par with the Sèvres porcelain much loved by the well-to-do of the period throughout the world.

French shapes and French words can be found throughout the business, design and production records now in the Spode archive. for more on the French connection see my blogpost Spode and French Porcelain.

'New Shape French Jar'

Pieces made by Spode sometimes followed the Sèvres production extremely closely. Some Spode shapes were described in the factory records as 'French' and blatantly as 'Sèvres'.

Now back to 'tulips' and here's a great photo, so obviously not by me, but from the Sèvres Manufacture et Musée Nationaux. I came across it when researching this subject. It was exciting to find an almost identical item to the Spode non-tulip 'tulip custard cup and stand' but manufactured by Sèvres.

Tasse Cobéa, Sèvres c1813

It is described as a Tasse Cobéa. You can immediately see the similarity to the Spode pieces. In this instance Spode is closely following a Sèvres design of c1813, which dates from a few years before the Spode pattern of c1816.

Now time to play spot the difference. Basically the Sèvres version has more gilding - the inside is completely solidly gilded to stunning effect. And it would be French porcelain not bone china. I also think the Sèvres saucer is more flat.

So what is a Tasse Cobéa? Well even I know tasse is cup and then more research and I find a very beautiful flower called Cobea scandens with the absolutely perfect common name of 'Cup and Saucer Vine'.

'Cup and Saucer' vine from A Digital Botanic Garden

The best photo I could find is from the rather wonderful A Digital Botanic Garden. The flower is simply fabulous. For the ceramic pieces it was obviously used as the inspiration for the shape however the colours are completely different.

Cobea scandens Curtis Botanical Magazine Vol 22 plate 851 c1805

The botanical illustration of the Cobea is from Curtis's Botanical Magazine from about 1805. Click on the link which is in the caption above to take you to the digitised copy of Volume 22. Use the links there to the plates and text pages to find page 851 (NB the text page comes before the illustration page). You can then read all about the plant including 'Our drawing was taken in July 1784 at Mr Woodford's Vauxhall' [London].

I am grateful to the following websites which helped me to solve this puzzle:

A Digital Botanic Garden (Twitter Phil Gates @WeardaleDiary)
Biodiversity Heritage Library (Twitter @BioDivLibrary)
Sèvres Manufacture et Musée Nationaux (Twitter @sevresceramique)
V&A Online Collections

Some of you will also know I dabble in a bit of gardening but no, I have yet to grow this Cobea, and not convinced it will like my location with its short, wet growing season. You can find out more at An English Garden (with reasonably good photos... I have improved).