Penrose Antiques

Description

We have for sale an absolutely lovely and rather unusual Regency William Billingsley decorated Swansea teacup and saucer c 1816-17.

This finest Swansea duck egg porcelain teacup and saucer is of a basket weave moulded form and is beautifully but minimally decorated with a gilded handle and simple gilded bands. The bases of the cup and saucer both carry the Swansea script mark ascribed to the porcelain manufacturer and flower painter William Billingsley (see Swansea Porcelain, Shapes and Decoration. by A.E. Jones and Sir L. Joseph 1988 and also Swansea Porcelain, The Duck-Egg Translucent Vision of Lewis Dillwyn by Howell G M Edwards 2017. What makes this cup and saucer unusual is the minimal decoration. Billingsley was renowned as a flower painter, but saw fit to sign a simple minimally gilded cup and saucer - perhaps he used it to demonstrate the gilding technique to an apprentice but marked it with his red Swansea script out of habit.

The cup is 3.5 inches in diameter and 2 inches high whilst the saucer is just under 5.5 inches in diameter. Both the cup and saucer are in a very good to excellent condition other than some minor losses loss of gilt.