An 'A' mark porcelain fluted coffee cup, painted with six alternate panels of flowers and a bird

An 'A' mark porcelain fluted coffee cup, painted with six alternate panels of flowers and a bird above two scrolls before flowing red ribbons, brown line rim above a black specked and gilt scrolling border, unmarked, c.1744-45, a 2cm section broken and repaired, 9cm. Cf. English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Vol. 18 Part 2, 2003, p.270 shows a similar cup from the collection of the British Museum (M&LA 1995, 11-3.1). The group of wares that have come to be known as 'A'-marked porcelain have been a subject of much deliberation since a "curious teapot" and three cups appeared for discussion at a 1937 meeting of the English Ceramic Circle. Some forty one pieces attributed to this group are now recorded in literature; the majority of them cups similar in style to the above. The British provenance of nearly all of these examples has helped quash an early theory of an Italian source of origin. Recent scientific research on some of the objects has confirmed the proximity of both the porcelain body and the glaze to the Heylyn and Frye patent of 1744, which had previously been thought an unworkable recipe. Research by Ramsay et al (2001; 2003) put forward the view that this was an erroneous belief and this has subsequently changed the accepted chronology of British ceramics history. The currently accepted view is that these 'A'-marked wares represent the first production of porcelain in England, and that it was probably wares of this type that were shown to William Cookworthy in early 1745. The propinquity to the Heylyn and Frye patent, together with Anton Gabszewicz's stylistic comparisons to the 'drab' or 'mushroom' wares of early Bow have linked the group to an early phase of experimental production by this factory.