Penrose Antiques

Description

Something for the collector of the really unusual Regency Swansea Porcelain, an experimental Swansea cup c1815.

William Billingsley is famous for a number of things, being pretty much recogised as the finest Regency flower decorator of porcelain and for being instrumental in establishing the Pinxton, Nantgarw and Swansea porcelain factories. To achieve this Billingsley experimented with the production of his own very fine soft paste porcelain. This cup represents one of his early experimental pieces.

The cup has a very unusual glassy body with a reasonably good translucency. The paste was clearly prone to collapse during firing as the cup is minus its handle. However, Billingsley obviously considered the piece valuable because it was decorated in polychrom coulours and gilt with roses on a bed of seaweed and the scars of the lost handle were masked by the inclusion of two leaves. The experimental nature of this cup makes it almost unique.

The cup is 21⁄2 inches (6cm) high and is in a good condition although there is wear to the gilt.

This rare Swansea cup is currently being exhibited as part of the selling exhibition of rare Derby, Pinxton, Nantgarw and Swansea porcelain "A journey with William Billingsley" 2016, ISBN: 9783741809903.