Antique porcelain tea and coffee service for 16 people with two types of cups (5603)

Dimensions: The set includes: a large teapot/coffee pot, 16 tea cups with saucers and 16 coffee cups with saucers. In total, the set contains 32 cups and 32 saucers. Antique porcelain tea and coffee service for 16 people A luxurious, monumental, and unusually voluminous example of late 19th-century European porcelain art – a majestic tea and coffee service, fully complete and preserved for 16 people (antique porcelain tea service). Such a large service volume is a great historical rarity. Its special value lies in the existence of two types of cups: the set includes 16 wider tea cups and 16 slimmer coffee/espresso type cups, allowing for representative receptions according to the highest etiquette requirements. Each vessel stands out with an elegant, plastic, wavy spiral relief on the thin, clear white porcelain body. The surface of the vessels is adorned with romantic, hand-accented soft pink and purple meadow flower motifs – wild roses and delicate floral bouquets with green leaves. The upper part of the cups, handles, and lid knob are decorated with an expressive, relief, and hand-applied gold decorative scroll. Charming, richly gilded, naturally intertwined, and branch-like spout handles add a special charm to the vessels. Period of manufacture Late 19th century, approximately 1890–1900. Historicism period, Western Europe (y or Bohemia). Manufacturer / Signature / Stamp There are no industrial stamps on the bases of the vessels, but hand-painted historical red and gilded inventory and decorator numbers are visible, characteristic of prestigious manufactories of that time that undertook individual orders and had decoration carried out in separate artist workshops. Rarity and significance Porcelain services for 16 people with such a large number of original, undamaged cups (32 pieces in total) are an extreme rarity in the antique tableware market. Most services of this scale have been divided or partially broken over time. This service perfectly illustrates the grand salon culture of late 19th-century Europe, where communal tea drinking was an important social ritual. Condition In excellent antique condition. The porcelain is shiny, clean, without cracks or signs of restoration. The gold plating on the handles and the delicate pink floral color decor are preserved in excellent visual condition with minimal, naturally insignificant signs of age on some gold elements. Cultural-historical moment: Poet Aspazija sat peacefully at the large family table on the wooden veranda of her home in Dubulti on a warm summer evening, watching the last rays of the sun slowly slide through the pines and into the garden chair. Steam rose from freshly brewed linden tea in the quiet room, and the white porcelain service laid out on the table, with its rosy flowers and gilded, branch-like handles, created a noble harmony of peace and simplicity. She slowly filled the cups for the awaited guests – poets and like-minded people who would soon gather for a literary evening, and the gleam of the white tableware with its discreet gold band instantly transformed an ordinary evening moment before the reading of the first new poems into an enjoyment of unhurried and harmonious beauty. “