Coalport | Revelry | Fifteen-Piece Coffee Set | Bone China | 20th Century

Coalport has been making bone china since 1750 — long enough to have decorated putti for every era that thought it invented good taste.

Coalport was established in 1750 on the banks of the River Severn in Shropshire, making it one of the oldest surviving names in English bone china. The factory relocated to Staffordshire in the early twentieth century and continued production under various ownership until its absorption into the Wedgwood Group. Throughout its history Coalport maintained a strong neoclassical design vocabulary, and Revelry is a confident expression of that tradition. The pattern takes its name and its subject matter from the classical world — a continuous frieze of white putti at play set against a periwinkle blue ground, framed by grey acanthus scrollwork and zigzag borders that echo the decorative language of Wedgwood jasperware and Adam-period interiors. The saucers carry an expanded treatment of the same theme, with individual blue panels showing putti engaged in various pursuits arranged around a central medallion of rope-twist and floral motifs. The coffee pot shape is tall and gently tapered with an angular handle decorated with gilt acanthus leaf motifs at the upper and lower attachments, and a spout tip touched in gold. The knop is a plain turned dome with a single gilt ring.

The coffee pot stands on a circular foot with a gilt line at the base and carries the Revelry frieze around the widest point of the body; above it, a grey scrolling leaf border runs below the shoulder, and the domed lid repeats this border with a single gilt ring at its edge. The milk jug is footed and low-set, with the blue frieze panel at mid-body framed by scrollwork on either side, a gilt rim line and foot line, and gold leaf detailing at the handle terminal. The open sugar bowl is a wide, shallow footed form with the full frieze visible around its exterior and a gilt rim. Each demitasse can is straight-sided with a small loop handle touched in gold at the terminal, carrying two or three blue panels of putti separated by acanthus sprigs; the saucers show the full four-panel arrangement with central medallion and gilt outer rim.

The gilding on the rims of the six demitasse cans shows light wear consistent with use. All other gilding throughout the set — on the coffee pot, milk jug, sugar bowl, saucer rims, foot lines, and handle terminals — is in very good condition with no further loss or rubbing. There are no chips, cracks or crazing on any piece.

• Maker: Coalport
• Pattern: Revelry
• Backstamp: Coalport Bone China Made in England Est. 1750 — Revelry
• Pieces: 15 — coffee pot with lid, milk jug, open sugar bowl, 6 demitasse cans and saucers
• Material: Bone china
• Period: 20th century
• Decoration: White putti frieze on periwinkle blue ground; grey acanthus scrollwork; saucers with four-panel putto arrangement and central rope-twist medallion; printed transfer throughout
• Gilding: Gilt rim lines, foot lines, handle terminals, spout tip and knop ring; light wear to demitasse can rims
• Condition: Very good
• Buyer profile: Collector of English bone china; buyer drawn to neoclassical pattern work; buyer seeking a complete coffee service for use or display

Putti have decorated English china for nearly three centuries — always playing, never ageing, indifferent to the fate of the tables they were made to grace.