This is a very rare and stunning coffee cup and saucer made by Derby in about 1785. The set has a white ground with graceful gilding, and two stunning little landscapes painted by Zachariah Boreman.
The Derby Porcelain factory has its roots in the late 1740s, when Andrew Planché, a Walloon Huguenot refugee, started making simple porcelain toys shaped like animals in his back yard. In 1756 Staffordshire enameller William Duysbury and banker John Heath started a new porcelain factory with Planché and this was to grow out to the largest factory of its time, buying up the bankrupted Chelsea and Bow factories, as well as the stock of several other workshops including that of James Giles. The combination of various traditions, porcelain making skills and sophisticated clients enabled Duesbury to create one of the best porcelain factories of the 18th and 19th Centuries, which after many ups and downs is still operative today.
Zachariah Boreman was one of the most celebrated painters at Derby. Born in London in 1738, he arrived at Derby around 1774 after working at Chelsea, and remained until 1794, when he left in frustration with Michael Kean, the owner. Even though Boreman became one of the prime landscape painters at Derby, Kean would not pay him more and this caused Boreman to go back to London and work for the Simms decorating studio until his death in 1810. Boreman was known as a highly respected and likable person, and he became famous for his fine landscapes. His style was most probably influenced by Paul Sandby, the chief drawing instructor at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. His little landscapes are restrained, with often muted brown and green shades; in Boreman's landscapes, less is more although his drawing and stippled brush style is extraordinarily detailed.
These two landscapes, one of a river with sailing boats, a fortress by the water, and people; the other of some people and a horse by the waterside, a large house in the background. They are beautifully finely painted in monochrome sepia, a popular style at the time. The gilding by Thomas Soar consists of very fine festoons with tied ribbons, wreaths around the landscape paintings, and a fine floral chain on the cup handle.
The set is marked with the hand painted puce crowned double baton Derby mark that was used between 1782 and 1800, as well as an impressed Z and the gilders mark 1 for Thomas Soar.
DOCUMENTATION: a coffee cup and saucer of the same service are shown in colour plate 19 on page 55 of John Twitchett's "Derby Porcelain 1748-1848 An Illustrated Guide".
CONDITION REPORT The set is in excellent antique condition without damage, repairs or crazing, and only some very minor scratches as visible in the pictures.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1700s, and this meant that china from that period can have some firing specks from flying particles. British makers were also known for their experimentation, and sometimes this resulted in technically imperfect results. Due to the shrinkage in the kiln, items can have small firing lines or develop crazing over time, which should not be seen as damage but as an imperfection of the maker's recipes, probably unknown at the time of making. Items have often been used for many years and can have normal signs of wear, and gilt can have signs of slight disintegration even if never handled. I will reflect any damage, repairs, obvious stress marks, crazing or heavy wear in the item description but some minor scratches, nicks, stains and gilt disintegration can be normal for vintage items and need to be taken into account.
There is widespread confusion on the internet about the difference between chips and nicks, or hairlines and cracks. I will reflect any damage as truthfully as I can, i.e. a nick is a tiny bit of damage smaller than 1mm and a chip is something you can easily see with the eye; a glazing line is a break in the glazing only; hairline is extremely tight and/or superficial and not picked up by the finger; and a crack is obvious both to the eye and the finger. Etcetera - I try to be as accurate as I can and please feel free to ask questions or request more detailed pictures!
DIMENSIONS (diameters) 7cm (2.75"); saucer 14.2cm (5.6").
Derby coffee cup, monochrome sepia landscapes Zachariah Boreman, ca 1785
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