Description:

This hybrid-hard-paste teabowl and saucer was made at the Liverpool factory of Wolfe, Mason and Lucock.  This factory specalised in making Chinese-looking porcelain to fill the gap in that market caused by the East India Company ceasing to import Chinese porcelain.  Despite seeking to emulate Chinese painted patterns, Wolfe & Co used printing for their blue and white patterns.

The design on this tea bowl and saucer is called the Gardener Pattern and depicts a garden scene with a large pavilion to the left of which one figure presents a bunch of flowers to another.  The factory also produced another version of this pattern with both figures facing the same way and without the floral presentation.  The inner border on this latter version has a zigzag appearance and the four flower petals are replaced by rectangular shapes.  This variation is closer to the Chinese original. The Coalport factory also produced a hand-painted version of it.