Coffee cup (part of a service)

Art Historical Context

This delicate coffee cup, produced by the Caughley Factory in Shropshire,, around 1780–90, exemplifies the refined porcelain craftsmanship of late 18th-century Britain. Part of a larger service, its petite height of just 1 13/16 inches (4.6 cm) made it perfectly suited for intimate social rituals like after-dinner coffee, a fashionable pastime among the growing middle and upper classes. Crafted from soft-paste porcelain—a European innovation blending white clay with ground glass and fired at lower temperatures than true Chinese hard-paste—this piece reflects Caughley's mastery in imitating Or...