A fabulous English porcelain tea bowl and saucer from the late 18th century and decorated with Newhall's pattern 161 which is possibly a direct copy, or certainly a close copy of a french pattern featuring the Angouleme sprigs.

French sprig motifs were very popular in England at this time and where mimicking french porcelain decoration.  The Angouleme sprig is a specific catagory of sprig which was a design developed first in the porcelain factory set up under the protection of the Duc de Angouleme in Paris in 1781.

Christoph Dihl (1752-1830), Antoine Guérhard (d.1793) and his wife Louise-Françoise-Madelaine Croizé (1751-1831) established a factory under the protection of the then only five year old Duc d’Angoulême (1775-1844).

This Royal patronage allowed the factory to manufacture coloured and gilt porcelain which had been monopolised by Sèvres since 1766.

It operated first at Rue de Bondy, Paris moving in 1789 to rue du Temple. The factory enjoyed success and continued after the Revolution. The factory suffered financial difficulties in the early-19th century eventually leading to closure in 1828.

The Newhall factory also opened in 1781 and so was a direct contemporary of the French factory but was operating in Staffordshire and producing its new hybrid hard paste which was like a hard paste porcelain in some of its quality but technically not true hard paste.

This is a lovely early Newhall pattern so could have been produced in the 1780's and only be behind the french factory by a year or two in producing this coloured sprig.

The Newhall pattern includes gold lines defining the border and the foot and gilt sprigs interspersed with the colour enamel sprigs.  

Here we also see fine lilac coloured stems, which is quite often seen on the French versions but which got lost quite quickly on the later English copies of the design.  

In very good antique condition with just some rubbing of the gilding. particularly in the saucer.  The gilding of this period tends to be soft and easily rubbed.

Makers marks:
None

Dimensions:
Bowl 5.2cm tall 6.3cm dia at rim. 
Saucer 13cm dia

Weight:
171 g

Age:
230 years

Condition:
Very good

Maker:
Newhall