One of my favorite things about finding neighborhood tea rooms around the Midwest US is that very often their tea tables consist of a mish-mash of teacups and plates of different patterns. Having a perfectly matched table does not a perfect tea table make. Rather, the mix of patterns, colors, and shapes, and the opportunity to choose the one that you’d like to take your tea in, only makes the experience homier and more welcoming.
When I started building my own modest collection of bone china teacups and trio sets, I found myself gravitating to patterns that contained natural landscapes, cottages, trees or gardens. So that’s where I made my start.
When I’m not able to get out to antique stores, or head down Portobello Road in Notting Hill, London to poke my head into shop after shop, I will scour Etsy and eBay to see what’s on offer.
This first one is a Paragon pattern, one of my favorite manufacturers for some of their unique and beautiful patterns. For a landscape teacup, this one differs from many others, in that the landscape only features on the rim of the cup and saucer.
The English countryside, with a house or two placed amongst the trees, is unmistakeable in this one, with the colors vivid, and the style somewhat impressionistic.
The mark on the bottom tells you it’s Paragon, though it doesn’t name the exact pattern. It does have a number, though I haven’t done my homework enough yet to figure out what it is, or if it can help me figure out the name of the pattern, as I would love to find more pieces of it!
A second landscape pattern that makes me think of something peaceful like taking a walk through a woods, is this pattern from Royal Albert.
“Greenwood Tree” has the lovely pastel colors, realistic tree in the forefront, and the hint of forest in the background. Love the cup handle as well, it’s got the beautiful swirl accented in gold, and is easy to hold.
This one is clearly marked on the bottom with maker, pattern name and more. This is also one where you frequently see pieces available on Etsy or eBay, so it’s not hard to add to one’s collection when they get listed.
So these were the first two landscape teacups and saucers I found and invested in to have some nice bone china pieces on hand that I could use for myself or friends that come to tea.
A couple more to come on another post…
Very Nearly Tea Time 
Lovely
❤
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Thanks, Yuna! 🙂
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