Tea Leaf

One of the most widely produced of Tea Leaf ironstone body styles, this square style with fluted corners and flared bodies that flare to a slightly indented base was evidently extremely popular. It is named for the hook-type lustre treatment on the handles and finials. 

Embossed designs on the lower section of holloware pieces resemble fine crewel embroidery. The oval bodies are divided into four somewhat bulbous sections. Handles are attached at the widest portion of the body and appear to be out of proportion with the overall size, a trademark of the late Victorian period.

Chain Link is named for the unusual handle of the ewer that has been found. It is completed by the trefoil embossing at the upper handle terminal. The rim is gracefully sculptured lending a refined quality to the overall body style.

Elegantly embossed near the base and surrounding the finial, this body style was the perfect complement to the table linen of the period.

The lids of holloware pieces feature fleur-de-lis streamers and wreaths culminating in the tied bow finial. This style is listed as Bow Knot in Dieringer's White Ironstone China Plate Identification Guide. Since the name "Bow Knot" has been used as the title for WIlkinson's bath set body style, we have modified it to "Bow Tie."

Styled after the Johnson Brothers Tracery body style, these pieces feature beading near the base of the cups and a botanical vine design embosed on the saucers and plates.

Holloware pieces feature both the Tracery-style beading and the botanical design.

Usually found in white ironstone, these Tea Leaf decorated examples are rare indeed.

After 1897.

The scroll body style is thought to be Alfred Meakin's earliest style adorned with the tea leaf motif. Scroll is identified by the copper lustre decoration found at the finials and handles. The keyhole arch finial is also an identifying element.

This body style mirrors the age of the dashing cavalier Charles Stuart II, King of England, in the late 17th century. The bulbous base and upright neck are typical of the pouring vessels of that period. 

Johnson Brothers' elaborate Acanthus features embossed elongated leaves. Even flatware pieces such as ordinary plates and bowls are decorated with triangular shaped leaves on the rim border. Holloware pieces such as the ewer and the sugar bowl have deeply ruffled melon ribs. This body style is sometimes confused with Chelsea.

Another of Hughes' lavishly embossed body styles, it features ferns and leaves at handle terminals.

It is very similar to a body style potted in white ironstone identified as Hawthorn's Fern in White Ironstone: A Collector's Guide, Wetherbee, 1996. 

John Hawthorn liquidated his business in 1887. Is it possible that the Hughes pottery bought these molds for this piece?