Mayer & Sherratt | Bone China Tea Trio | Imari Palette | Early 20th Century

Mayer & Sherratt | Bone China Tea Trio | Imari Palette | Early 20th Century

Scalloped rims, a black border scattered with gold, and a cup shaped to sit just so on its saucer.

Mayer & Sherratt worked at the Clifton Works in Stafford Street, Longton, from 1906 to 1941. Longton was home to many of the small Staffordshire firms making bone china tea wares for the home market. This trio carries the firm's crown mark above M&S, with L for Longton. The firm later became associated with the Melba trade name, introduced in the early 1920s.

The trio comprises a teacup, saucer and side plate in thin, translucent bone china. The cup is fluted, with a lobed, scalloped rim and an angular handle, and stands on a short foot. The saucer and plate have scalloped rims. The border is a black band scattered with gold scrolls and small red motifs, edged in gilt. Within it, transfer-printed sprays of flowers, coloured by hand in red and green, alternate with small diamond motifs on the white ground, and the same decoration is repeated inside the cup rim. The saucer well is circled with a fine gilt line. The base carries the red crown mark with M&S and L.

The trio is in excellent condition, with no chips, cracks, crazing or restoration, and minor wear to the gilding.

Key Details

• Maker: Mayer & Sherratt, Clifton Works, Longton
• Date: early 20th century, probably c. 1906–1920 (by mark)
• Material: bone china
• Form: tea trio (teacup, saucer and side plate); fluted cup with lobed rim
• Decoration: Imari-style palette; black border with gold scrolls and red motifs; transfer-printed floral sprays, hand-coloured in red and green; gilt edges
• Marks: red crown above M&S, L (Longton)
• Dimensions: plate diameter 19 cm; cup height 6.2 cm
• Weight: 381 g per trio
• Condition: excellent; no chips, cracks, crazing or restoration; minor wear to the gilding
• Buyer profile: collector of early 20th-century English tea wares; someone building a mixed vintage tea table; buyer who wants several matching trios

Collector Appeal

The crown mark links this trio to a Longton firm later associated with the Melba name. The Imari-style palette sits on a lightly fluted form, which keeps it from looking heavy. With nine matching trios available, it can serve a small tea party as well as a display shelf.

A tea set measures out its age in afternoons; this one has had more than a century of them.