Set 7 Early 19th Century English Porcelain Coffee Cans c.1810 Possibly New Hall

A handsome matched set of seven early 19th century English porcelain coffee cans, hand-painted in the Regency taste with a continuous gilt border and brightly enamelled floral sprigs. Attributed on the basis of body, glaze and decoration to New Hall or a closely contemporary Staffordshire factory, circa 1810-1820.

The coffee can - a straight-sided cylindrical cup with a loop handle - was the principal form for serving coffee in fashionable English households from approximately 1790 until the 1830s, when the more familiar coffee cup with saucer began to supersede it. Cans of this period were almost always sold as part of a larger tea and coffee service, and to find a matched set of seven survivors today is unusual.

New Hall, founded in 1781 at Shelton in Staffordshire by a consortium of potters who had purchased Richard Champion's patent for the Bristol hard-paste porcelain recipe, produced fine quality porcelain throughout the late Georgian and Regency period and is particularly associated with the bright, well-painted floral patterns characteristic of the period. The factory closed in 1835. Comparable examples are illustrated in New Hall Porcelain by David Holgate and in the standard Staffordshire reference works.

Each can measures approximately 6cm in height. Six of the seven are in excellent untouched condition; one has a single small hairline as is normal for tea ware of this age. The decoration throughout is fresh and the gilding well-preserved. Sold as the set of seven - a rare survival from a Regency drawing room.

UK tracked delivery available; collection from Nottingham welcome. A particularly nice set for the collector of early English porcelain or for use at the table.