By Vivienne Milburn FRICS Independent Antiques Auctioneer & Valuer
IT is hard to imagine modern travel mugs making over £1,000 in 200 years’ time; as the 18th Century Meissen lidded cup and saucer we have pictured did when it made £1,100 in the recent specialist auction.
The Brits have a long tradition of turning to tea for comfort, a custom we have really made our own and as we are having a tea revival, the paraphernalia that goes with tea drinking has become more valuable at auction.
Trembleuse cups and saucers; or as the French call it gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé – sunken cup and saucer – is a drinking cup and saucer, with the saucer given a raised holding area in which the cup sits more securely than in the normal design.
It was designed to enable people with a weak grip or trembling hands to drink a beverage. Trembleuse cups were normally sold singly, rather than in sets. Such saucers had been common in Chinese ceramics for centuries. In Europe they were made in Paris at the Sèvres factory and at Meissen in Germany.
The drinking of exotic imported goods such as tea, coffee and chocolate became increasingly popular with Europe’s elite in the 17th Century. European royalty and nobility were fascinated with the elegance, refinement and ceremony of tea consumption but until the early 18th Century only the Chinese and Japanese exported porcelain that could service this fashion. With the development of porcelain at Meissen and other European factories, new and exciting products became available. as the century developed, the taking of tea developed to a more western taste.
Production was aimed only at the wealthiest customers and every piece was finished to the highest possible standard. The ritual of blending and brewing tea meant that there was a demand for porcelain factories to make everything you can think of to enhance the pleasure of drinking tea.
Editor’s Note: Perhaps you also have fine art, antiques and collectables that might be valuable? If so, it is worth getting the advice of an Independent Antiques Valuer to assess them. For further information, please contact Vivienne on 07870 238788 or go to www.viviennemilburn.co.uk or email vivienne@viviennemilburn.co.uk