Tuscan Fine Bone China | 'Blenheim' Pattern | Part Coffee Set | 9 Pieces | Circa 1940s

There is a particular kind of confidence in a green and gold service — the combination has been associated with fine English porcelain since the eighteenth century, and Tuscan's Blenheim pattern deploys it with characteristic mid-century assurance.

Background

Tuscan China was produced by Plant Bros & Co. Ltd of Longton, Staffordshire — a manufacturer with a long-standing reputation for well-decorated bone china in the middle-to-upper domestic market. The Blenheim pattern belongs to a distinguished tradition of English porcelain design drawing on eighteenth-century Sèvres precedents: an emerald green ground richly worked with gilt Rococo scrollwork and acanthus cartouches, with polychrome floral sprays scattered across the white body below. Roses, forget-me-nots, and anemones are rendered with the relaxed naturalism typical of Staffordshire transfer decoration of the 1940s, finished with hand-applied gilding throughout. The pattern name is apt — Blenheim carries connotations of grand English interiors, formal entertaining, and the kind of inherited confidence that good bone china was made to accompany.

Physical Description

The set comprises a tall coffee pot with domed lid and knop finial, three demitasse cans with matching saucers, and two further demitasse cans. The pot is of generous upright form with a scrolled gilt handle and slender spout; the domed lid carries the full Blenheim decoration including a central floral spray framed by green and gilt scrollwork. The demitasse cans are straight-sided — the classic English coffee can shape — with gilt loop handles and the full pattern repeated on each piece. The emerald green ground is vivid and consistent across all nine pieces, and the gilt Rococo ornament is dense and well-executed, with acanthus leaf cartouches dropping into the white field below.

Condition Statement

Excellent. No chips, cracks, or crazing on any piece. The gilding is in superb condition throughout — bright, largely unworn, and consistent across the pot, lid, cans, and saucers. The set presents as having seen very light use, if any.

Key Details

• Maker | Tuscan China — Plant Bros & Co. Ltd, Longton, Staffordshire, England
• Pattern | Blenheim
• Shape | Coffee can (demitasse) with tall coffee pot
• Pieces | 9 — coffee pot with lid, 3 demitasse cans with saucers, 2 demitasse cans without saucers
• Material | Fine English bone china
• Period | Circa 1940s
• Decoration | Emerald green ground with gilt Rococo scrollwork and acanthus cartouches; polychrome scattered floral sprays — roses, forget-me-nots, anemones — in the Sèvres tradition
• Gilding | Superb — bright and largely unworn throughout
• Condition | Excellent — no chips, cracks, or crazing on any piece
• Buyer profile | The collector of mid-century English bone china who appreciates strong colour and formal decoration; the buyer furnishing a sideboard or display cabinet with pieces that will read well; anyone who uses fine china and wants a set with genuine presence at the table

A service made for a room with good furniture and unhurried mornings — Blenheim has the kind of presence that reminds you why English bone china was made this way in the first place.