Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Birthdays And Royal Bits

Good morning! I am a bit later than usual with my Tuesday Cuppa Tea post.  I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend...Ours was quiet...we are anticipating major surgery for our dear daughter in law on Tuesday morning, so we are praying and preoccupied. Plus, we are set for visits to friends and family with a buying trip added in starting later in the week, so...a bit scattered. But...on to Tuesday Cuppa Tea!

Because of today's theme, this is my teacup for today...as William Shakespeare's birthday is April 23rd...

so my teacup is the ubiquitous and perennial favorite design theme of Anne Hathaway's Cottage in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, which is quite close to my husband's birthplace.

As you probably know, Anne Hathaway was William Shakespeare's wife and lived in this thatched cottage in Stratford...which has become so synonymous with Shakespeare, and is now a museum...

The design of the cottage has been has been used in one form or another for centuries, and has been popular in this particular decal design since the 1950s...

The decal was designed by either a person called Capper, or a design firm called Capper...I have been unable to figure out exactly which...and is sometimes's marketed by various manufacturers as Capper's Cottage...

This particular example, with the Royal Sutherland is from the 1980s and is a small potter who developed in the major pottery house changes that left gaps for small potteries to immerge...

The following Shelley cup and saucer in the Stratford shape is from 1959-1966 and is also a decal from Cappers. The pattern design is Capper's Rose. It was the only other Capper's design I could find quickly.

For those who don't know about china making, a decal sheet is applied to a bisque, or dried and fired china body with water and a tool. Then the item is kiln fired. Which is why on decal pieces you can sometimes see a missing pattern line, a slightly darker line, a pattern miss or whatever, as the pattern decal is applied to a round item. Like trying to fold a piece of paper around a ball. It is actually skilled work. They are now designing machines to do it...we'll see.

So now you know why you see the same design sometimes by several makers. The best potteries also employ their own designers, but as that is expensive, many of the small firms buy their decals from a separate design firm. Transferware was similarly made.

Okay...back to birthdays! Happy birthday to Queen Elizabeth II who is 88 today, April 21st. This is the artist Jane Perkins fab portrait of the queen done for her Diamond Jubilee last year of found and recycled bits, using one of her 1953 Coronation photos as a model. It is amazing.

This is Queen Elizabeth's official Diamond Jubilee portrait...

This is another official portrait unveiled in New Zealand last week by William and Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge who are representing the Queen on a visit to New Zealand and Australia. And for the Prince George watchers, here is the plush Wombat sit on toy given him by the Governor...

Also interesting to me was when Kate got off the plane in New Zealand, she was wearing a Diamond fern brooch...

The brooch was presented to Queen Elizabeth on her first visit to New Zealand in 1953-1954...

And she wears it often...

and it is in the official portrait...as well as used as a design element in Kate's dress...

These are Getty images from Google...I love the history of jewelry...that's from being married to a Diamond setter...I call him my English Setter...for 40 years!

For more info on the teacups at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.  I may be a bit late responding to posts this week with the surgery and preparations, but I so look forward to what creative and uplifting things you all have to share! It's a privilege to have you all friends! Here is the linky for you tea related posts. Have a wonderful week!

An InLinkz Link-up