A very rare 18th century Worcester tea cup & saucer painted by James Giles from a single service; painted with a sky blue enamel border, less green than the more common bleu celeste, outlined with gilt scrolling, the cup and saucer decorated with mix of flowers including heartsease, forget-me-nots, roses, auricula, scarlet pimpernels and a divergent purple tulip, the interior of the cup with a convolvulus, the handle with graduated gilded dots.

Both pieces marked with blue crossed swords, number 9 and a dot

Circa 1768-1770

Saucer diameter  13 cm

Cup Height          4.7 cm

Excellent condition - very, very slight rubbing to the gilding

Footnotes: This rare coloured ground differs from the usual Giles turquoise or blue celeste colour. It is recorded on only a single service, known as The Bathurst Service. For a cup and saucer see Stephen Hanscombe, James Giles China and Glass Painter (2005), fig. 17.