Royal Albert | Gossamer | Teacup, Saucer and Side Plate Trio | Bone China | England | c.1950s | Complete Set of Six — One Trio in Each Colourway

There is a particular confidence in a design that dispenses with pattern entirely and asks the colour and the ground to carry everything.

Gossamer is one of Royal Albert's more distinctive mid-century treatments, and one that sits apart from the floral transfer patterns for which the factory is best known. Rather than applying a printed design, Gossamer achieves its effect through a marbled ground laying technique — veins and wisps of deeper tone worked through a base colour to produce a surface that reads differently in every light. The name is well chosen: the effect is light and atmospheric, the veining fine enough to suggest translucency. Royal Albert produced Gossamer in a range of colourways, and the backstamp's "Pat. Appd For" notice confirms these pieces date from the period when the technique was still under patent application, placing them firmly in the 1950s. The crown mark without a copyright date is consistent with this dating.

This set comprises six trios, one in each of the six original Gossamer colourways: yellow, green, teal blue, orange-brown, pink and grey-white. Each trio consists of a teacup, saucer and side plate. The cups present a gently tapered form with a fully gilt handle and a gilt foot ring; the interior is white throughout, allowing the marbled exterior to read as a distinct ground rather than an overall wash. The saucers and side plates carry the Gossamer treatment across the full surface, with gilt to the rim and foot ring of each saucer. The side plates are unrimmed in the conventional sense, the gilt appearing at the very edge. Taken together, the six colourways present a considered range — from the warmth of the yellow and orange-brown through the cooler tones of the teal blue and grey-white — and the set has a coherence as a group that no single trio could achieve alone.

There are no chips, cracks, crazing, or surface marks on any piece across the set. The gilding is fully intact throughout all eighteen pieces. The set shows no signs of use.

• Maker: Royal Albert
• Pattern: Gossamer (marbled ground treatment)
• Form: Teacup, Saucer and Side Plate Trio
• Material: Bone China
• Country of Manufacture: England
• Backstamp: Royal Albert Bone China England — Gossamer — Pat. Appd For (crown mark)
• Date: c.1950s
• Colourways: Yellow, green, teal blue, orange-brown, pink and grey-white
• Quantity: Six trios (18 pieces), one per colourway, sold as a complete set
• Condition: Mint, unused — no chips, cracks, crazing, or surface marks; gilding fully intact throughout all eighteen pieces

A set like this was assembled over time and kept together with some care — the fact that all six colourways survive intact and unmarked is not something that happens by accident.