Royal Albert | Bone China | Open Sugar Bowl | Montrose Shape | Violet Floral Pattern | England | c.1935–1960

The open sugar bowl is the most sociable piece in any tea service — it expects hands to reach past it, and it sits at the table rather than presiding over it.

Royal Albert has produced bone china at the St Mary’s Works in Longton, Staffordshire since the early twentieth century, when Thomas C. Wild & Sons adopted the Royal Albert name. The factory became known for its refined body and richly printed floral wares, issuing a wide range of patterns across several decades.

This example carries the crown backstamp reading “Royal Albert / Bone China / ENGLAND” without a pattern name — a format consistent with production between approximately 1935 and the early 1960s, before named backstamps became standard.

The bowl is formed in the Montrose shape, a familiar and enduring form within the Royal Albert range: a deep, rounded body rising from a low scalloped foot, with a softly undulating rim that mirrors the base. The rim and foot are finished with a bright gilt line.

The exterior is decorated with generous polychrome floral sprays, centred on violet and pansy-type blooms in purple, crimson, soft pink and white, interspersed with rounded dark green leaves and smaller grey-blue foliage. A soft wash of yellow and pale teal beneath the flowers gives the design a slightly painterly, atmospheric quality. The motif is repeated on the opposing side. The interior remains plain white.

There are no chips, cracks, or crazing. The gilding is bright and intact. The transfer decoration is clear and unfaded. The piece is in excellent condition.

Key details

• Maker: Royal Albert, England
• Form: Open sugar bowl, Montrose shape
• Pattern: Unnamed violet and pansy floral
• Period: c.1935–1960
• Decoration: Polychrome floral transfer with soft wash ground
• Gilding: Bright gilt to rim and foot
• Diameter: 12 cm | Height: 7 cm | Weight: 165 g
• Condition: Excellent; no chips, cracks, or crazing

Collector Appeal

While unnamed patterns sit outside the most actively pursued Royal Albert lines, pieces such as this retain appeal as replacements within existing tea services, as well as for those collecting Montrose form wares or assembling mixed floral groupings within the English tea tradition.

A tea service without its sugar bowl is a conversation with someone missing — the absence is noticed the moment the tray is set down.