This is rare and very charming orphaned teacup made by Rathbone in about 1810. The cup has a puce bat printed image of a shelpherdess with her sheep, and a silver rim, which is rare.
Rathbone was one of the many potters in the early 19th Century, working alongside famous potters such as Spode, Ridgway, Wedgwood and others in Staffordshire. The pottery was run by several members of the Rathbone family, and it was only in operation between 1812 and 1835; it was most probably closed due to the death of its owners.
This teacup is potted in light bone china. The execution of the cup is not of the finest quality - most likely it was for one of the more affordable lines of tableware, but the image is beautifully bat printed and very charming: a shepherdess is seated under a tree, her sheep reclining around her. The cup has a silver rim, which is very rare.
The decoration was "bat printed", which has nothing to do with bats (the animals) but stands for the particular way transfer prints were generally only done for about 10 years, roughly between 1810 and 1820. It was a form of transfer printing by which an etched picture was transferred not by a sheet of paper, but by a slab of gelatine called a “bat”, which would transfer sticky oil onto the porcelain object, which was then covered in powdered paint. The paint would stick to the oil print of the original etching and that’s how the picture emerged. Another difference is that the etching itself was not scratched into the copper plate, but stippled; this created the soft tones. Even though the decorations come out in monochrome, they tend to have more subtlety and emotional expression than transfer prints or even hand painted decorations. Bat printing was very time consuming and could not cover large areas, so it was not done on a large scale and didn't survive long beyond the early 19th Century.
There is no marking on the cup or the saucer so we can't tell the exact year they were made but the style and shape suggest a date of around 1810.
CONDITION REPORT The cup is in good antique condition without any damage or repairs, however it is crazed and has some slight small spots of discolouration as visible in the pictures.
Antique British porcelain is never perfect. Kilns were fired on coal in the 1800s, 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 (diameter): 9.4cm (3.75")
Rathbone orphaned teacup, puce bat printed shepherdess, silver rim, ca 1810
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