Dr Wall Worcester cup & saucer, ‘Stormont Service’, landscapes & fruit c. 1780

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Stunning Worcester cup & saucer of the ‘Earl of Dalhousie’ type, with unusual borrowing of Sèvres-shape cup with double strap handle & saucer with recessed well, well painted with roundels of detailed landscapes including a ruined castle by a river framed by a turquoise ground decorated with a black chain pattern, the white ground body with fruit & leaf swags pendant from a deep blue border, spaced with various insects, the rims gilt with a scroll edge and three alternating foliate pattens in gold.

From the ‘Stormont’ service of 7th Viscount Stormont, Scone Palace, Scotland.

Unmarked,

Circa 1780

Condition: good, some minor wear to gold on rims only.

saucer 13.5cm

The ‘Dalhousie’ pattern name comes from a service owned by the Earl of Dalhousie, with central landscape surrounded by blue border, and swags of fruit to the rim; however, there are multiple variations on this theme in the Worcester products, so the name refers to a style rather than a service.

This cup and saucer, however, does have an important association with another service: in the Zorensky Collection there is an identical coffee cup & saucer which Spiro & Sandon associate with the Lord Stormont service. 7th Viscount Stormont had been the Ambassador to France in the 1770’s, and this Worcester tea service from the 1780’s reflects this:

“….. the shape of the handle is unusual and the saucer has a well recessed slightly in the centre in which the foot of the cup sits, a feature derived from Sèvres. These features are unusual but occur on the Stormont service which was a special order involving many unusual tea ware forms.” 

The 7th Viscount Stormont also had a desert service made to Sèvres shapes, also represented in the Zorensky Collection. These Sèvres services are still at Scone house, ancient Royal seat of the Scottish Kings and home of the present Viscount. The Worcester ‘copies’ seem to have been dispersed at some time, and this rarity found its way to a collection in Melbourne, Australia.

ref. Zorensky Collection #356 for the matching coffee cup & saucer, and also the tea canister from the Stormont Service

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