Tea service, 1784
Photo by Peter Harholdt,...
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Photo by Peter Harholdt, 2004 (teapot belongs to Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)

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Saucer
Tea cup
Tea bowl
Tea bowl underside
  • Overview
  • Description
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Assembled partial tea set or tea service: three cups and seven saucers in two variations of the "Chantilly sprig" or "Angoulême" pattern: the first, three cups and six saucers, have overall small blue flower and yellow and green leaf sprigs, marked underside with red stencil Angoulême (Guérhard and Dihl) mark; the second, seven saucers with a similar overall small floral sprig, differing in that both leaves are green, and stenciled on the underside CARN in black. The saucers are unmarked; the handled cups are marked on the underside with pale, iron-red seal mark; the handleless cups have three or four lines of stamped or stenciled, iron-red text, not completely legible on these examples, which reads "MANUF re/ du Mgr. le Duc/d'Angoulême/à Paris." The cups are in a bowl or coupe shape: narrow tapered foot rim, flaring sides. Those for tea are without handles; those for coffee have slender, flat-topped handles. The cup diameter is 3 1/2 to 3 5/8 inches (9 centimeters); the overall width of the cup with the handle is 4 1/4 to 4 5/16 inches (11 centimeters). The exterior of the cup is painted overall with small blue/yellow/purple flowers with green foliage. Every other line contains gold three-lobed leaves. A wreath of blue, purple and green rings the upper rim. The handled cups have plain gold bands along their upper rims; the handled cups have serrated gold borders around their edges. The handles have gold leaves and dots along their outer surfaces, gold lines along their edges.

The saucers' diameter is 5 5/8 inches; their rim height is 1 1/8 inch. Additional articles in identical or related blue cornflower patterns are described in other database entries. A drum-shaped teapot is owned by the University of Pennsylvania. A single cup and saucer from the service were offered for sale by Christie's NY in January 2004, Sale 1279, Lot 501; provenance was through Sarah Bache Hodge Woolford to Betty Woolford Smith. Records from Independence National Historical Park include photographs of saucers from the service shown to Park Service members. A saucer is in the hands of another Franklin descendant; and three tea cups are believed to have been owned by another.

Connection to Franklin
Date, supporting evidence and provenance support Franklin connection
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