Cup and saucer
Antoine Joseph Chapuis l'aîné (fl.1761 - 1787)
Category
Ceramics
Date
1777
Materials
Soft paste porcelain, enamels, gold
Measurements
80 x 120 mm
Place of origin
Sèvres
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 433523
Summary
Cup and saucer, soft paste porcelain, of the type tasse ‘Bouillard’ et soucoupe, round, the cup with straight sides curved inwards towards the bottom and with a curved handle, the saucer with an upwardly curved rim, Sèvres, France, 1777, decorated in enamels with an apple green ground with round reserves painted with flowers and finished with gold, marked in puce ‘CP’ for the flower painter Antoine-Joseph Chappuis l’aîné (1761–87), in blue ‘B’ for the gilder Jean-Pierre Boulanger (1722–85), and date letter Z inside interlaced Ls for 1777.
Full description
From the 1760s there was a taste among the Parisian upper classes for assembling sets of cups and saucers of different designs – known today as ‘cabinet cups’ or ‘harlequin sets’. They were intended more for display than use. Straight-sided cups were used in France for drinking both coffee and tea, while the British tended to use them specifically for coffee.
Provenance
Purchased by the National Trust with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, 1984.
Makers and roles
Antoine Joseph Chapuis l'aîné (fl.1761 - 1787), porcelain painter Jean-Pierre Boulanger (1722 - 1785), gilder