Did you know that the Maritime Museum of San Diego has one of the largest collections of the Tea Leaf Pattern Royal Ironstone China
any where?
We have 130 different Tea Leaf decorated items in our
collection and many are on display aboard our prize sailing ship The Star of India.
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The study of ceramics is important because it can tell us about the lifestyles of those who used the items. Full dinner and tea service items like those
in this collection would have been reserved for the first class passengers and
the captain. These type of wares were considered a luxury and the most
fashionable pieces were and are still highly sought after.
Most of the collection
here at the museum is from a single potter, Alfred Meakin, but we also have
pieces from several other potters including Enoch Wedgwood, Anthony Shaw, and
Thomas Furnival. Pieces in our collection range in date from 1839 to 1910.
Tea Leaf Pattern China is actually not a tea leaf at
all, but a Sprig.[1] The
copper color, or lustre, is made using pigments derived from metallic oxides.
This gives the design both color and shine.
The name “tea leaf” began to be associated with this design
in the 20th century when it experienced a renewed popularity. Also known as tea-berry, cinquefoil or coral
design, this pattern was manufactured by several different English and American
potters starting in 1850 through the early 1900s, and was brought back into production in the 1960s.[2]
This pattern is commonly called tea leaf because of the
similarities to an actual tea leaf but also because of the fortune telling
practice of reading tea leaves. Some believe that the tea leaves left in the
bottom of a cup by the drinker can lend insight into the future. The dark
clumps left at the bottom of a cup are reminiscent of the solid tea leaf design
and its brown copper color.[3]
For more information about Tea Leaf Pattern china and its
history visit the Tea Leaf Club International website..
Thank you to the Star of
India Auxiliary for the donation of many of the pieces, particularly those
pictured here.
Further Reading
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Blog Entry Prepared by Jessica Glickman, Collections Intern
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