40 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
which I never drank before.” However, the 
use of cup-plates is a much later one than 
Samuel Pepys’ day; they were not the fash¬ 
ion until tea-drinking had become an almost 
universal custom. 
“Hampshire Scenery” 
The reproductions from photographs 
which illustrate this article will give the 
reader an idea of the variety to be found in 
cup-plates. While the pieces put to this use 
are nearly of a size, their diameters vary by 
a fraction of an inch to an inch or more. 
The border of Hall’s “Hampshire Scen¬ 
ery” pieces, prim- 
roses, hypatica 
and other flowers 
m u c h resembles 
many of the 
Clews borders. 
The color is a 
rich blue. John 
Hall & Sons were 
Staffordshire pot¬ 
ters (1810-1820), 
whose marks on 
wares Chaffers 
places in the “mi¬ 
ce r t a i n” list. 
“Hyena” is also a 
Hall cup-plate, 
one of exceeding¬ 
ly quaint design 
from the “Quad¬ 
rupeds Series.” 
The mark on the 
“Quadrupeds Se¬ 
ries ” resembles 
an extended bell, 
on which appears the name “I. HALL” in 
capital letters, with the word “QUADRU¬ 
PEDS” in crude capital letters below, on 
a curtain-like extension with inverted flut- 
ings. Far more beautiful than either of 
these pieces, and more interesting to the 
American collector are those in rich blue 
showing the Park Square Theatre, Boston, 
and bearing the characteristic oak-leaf and 
acorn border of R. Stevenson and Wil¬ 
liams. All the designs of Ralph Stevenson 
are eagerly sought after by collectors of 
old china. The Stevenson works were in 
Colbridge, Staffordshire, but all record of 
both potter and pottery seems to have dis¬ 
appeared. In the other we see depicted the 
first United States Mint, Philadelphia, with 
the characteristic border of scrolls, eagles 
and flowers of Joseph Stubbs. This potter 
made comparatively few pieces for the 
American market. From 1790 to 1830 he 
was owner of the Dale Hall Works at 
Burslem. Cup-plates by this potter are 
among the most desired objects of the sort. 
Popularity of the Liverpool Type 
The cup-plate with verses is of the Liver¬ 
pool type, one of the Romance Series— 
“Returning Hopes.” The ardent verse ap¬ 
pearing thereon runs as follows: 
“When seamen to their homes return, 
And meet their wives or sweethearts dear, 
Each loving Laugh with rapture burns, 
To find her long-lost lover near.” 
These Liverpool cup-plates, by reason of 
their pictorial nature, have always been 
popular with collectors, hence the scarcity 
of them in antique and curio shops. Pri¬ 
vate collectors, too, seem loth to part 
with specimens of such printed wares. The 
three glass cup-plates on this page are excel¬ 
lent types of the cup-plates of this genre. 
The Wedgwood copy of the “Portland Vase" 
brought £399 when it passed into the 
Sprague collection 
The cup-plates found in American collec¬ 
tions are usually of native manufacture, 
and while in no sense comparable esthetic- 
ally with the cup-plates of porcelain and 
pottery, are still interesting historically. 
The majority of the glass cup-plates were 
crystalline glass, though some were colored 
— blue, green, yellow, brown, amber, rose, 
purple, etc. The familiar “Willow” pattern 
on page 39 is from a later period, being in 
brown. Experts claim to be able to trace 
all the hundreds of varieties of the “Wil¬ 
low” pattern to their various potters; but 
this is almost a special study in itself, and 
one entailing the surmounting of many dif¬ 
ficulties. 
Finally we come to the two examples of 
dark blue Davenport ware, the designs being 
Chinese in style. Ware such as this is fa¬ 
miliar to every collector and is coming to be 
collected more 
than formerly. 
By these few 
notes it will be 
seen that from 
even a small col¬ 
lection of cup- 
plates much 
pleasure m a y be 
derived, and the 
collector need not 
feel that it is 
hopeless to start 
getting together 
examples of 
worth, for if 
things are being 
picked up here 
and there on the 
one hand, it is. 
true that, on the 
other, specimens 
of cup-plates are 
constantly coming 
to t h e market as. 
well as leaving it. 
Restoring and Mending Old China 
LD porcelain, earthenware and even old 
glass may be skilfully mended so as 
almost to pass as whole; also lost parts may 
be “restored” to a condition that will leave 
an object not to be a reproach to one’s col¬ 
lection. Of course, the collector should en¬ 
trust such mending and restoring to the- 
hand of an expert, at least where broken 
or damaged pieces are of particular rarity. 
Probably the famous “Portland Vase,” now 
in the British Museum, London, is the most 
remarkable example of mending and restor¬ 
ing we know of. This celebrated vase, it 
will be remembered, was discovered in the 
sarcophagus of an ancient tomb not far 
from the Frascati road, near Rome, about 
the middle of the Seventeenth Century. 
From its first owners, after its discovery, 
the vase was known as the “Barberini Vase” 
until it passed from the hands of Sir Wil¬ 
liam Hamilton (who had purchased it for 
£1,000) to the possession of the Duchess of 
Portland. Thenceforth it was known as the 
“Portland Vase.” This vase, of a deep, 
black blue glass, decorated with semi-trans¬ 
lucent cameo figures of white, cut in relief 
upon dark ground in a truly marvelous man¬ 
ner, was wantonly dashed to pieces in 1845 
by a crank named Lloyd, a visitor to the 
museum. Fortunately the hundreds of 
fragments were immediately gathered up 
and placed in the hands of the official re¬ 
storer, a Mr. Doubleday, who accomplished 
the remarkable feat, aided by an engraving 
of the vase by Cipriani and Bartolozzi in 
1786, and especially by the remarkable copy 
of the vase which Josiah Wedgwood made. 
(Continued on page 62.) 
