Posh Porcelain Art Activities & Christmas Crafts – Industrial Folkways Creative Heritage Project

Part 2 of the Finding Festive Feasts Quiz discussed late 1700s porcelain cup sherds found at Markeaton during excavations of the Craft Village courtyard, in the area of the stables and stable-yard (discussed in the Interactive Guide).

As yet, Industrial Folkways hasn’t been able to examine these sherds; so at the moment it’s not possible to suggest here what this cup (or these cups) would’ve looked like.

So why not have a go at imagining what it or they might have looked like – and draw a picture of your imaginary cup? If you’d like inspiration, there are images of cups in Part 2 of the Quiz, and below – or create your own designs or shapes, if you’d prefer.

Small white porcelain coffee cup with gilt of the rim and foot ring, decorated with a black and grey garland design. — Example of a late-1700s Caughley factory (Staffordshire) porcelain coffee cup (MET).

Wide-mouthed porcelaon handled cup decorated with a scene depicting a monument of a man on a horse, and a man carrying a staff. — Example of a c. 1770 Worcester factory porcelain cup (MET).

Perhaps you could turn your ideas into Christmas decorations – using Christmas motifs popular in the early 1800s, such as holly, ivy, mistletoe, and other evergreens (Georgians and Victorians would use many different types, including laurel, yew, bay and fir)?

Most Georgians didn’t have Christmas trees: the first recorded example seems to be in 1800, within the royal household – influenced by traditions of the German homeland, from where some of the family originated, and many descended. It’s possible that at least some other well-off German immigrants in England might have also had trees in their homes, though without evidence, we can’t estimated how many.

The popularity of the Christmas tree in grew in early Victorian times, after people saw an illustration of the Queen and her family gathered around a table on which one was portrayed. But the practice seems to have been limited to urban well-to-do households, and institutions (such as hospitals) for several decades.

Source text: 'Family around Christmas tree, depicted in an oval with border showing winter scenes and the fruits and animals of a bountiful harvest.' — Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, 1848 (Source).

It became the custom with these early Victorian trees to display gifts, including small toys (such as miniature furniture and household objects) and sweets, on the tree branches, and give these out (mainly to children) over Christmas.

So here are some resources to make your own 1840s-style Christmas tree decorations, inspired by the Markeaton finds.

This sheet of cup templates and motifs can be used to get started (right click on the image and select ‘save as’ to download):

Posh Porcelain Art Activities & Christmas Crafts, decoration templates and motifs worksheet. — Posh Porcelain Art Activities & Christmas Crafts: decoration templates and motifs worksheet.

Hang on a Christmas tree; or attach several to string or ribbon to make garlands.

If you’d like to draw or paint your own cups, here are a couple of examples made at around the same time as the Markeaton example(s):

Cream ceramic cup, the exterior surface of which has impressed leaf veins, and applied relief decoration depicting a twig with oak leaves and acorns. It has a rusticated foot ring and rim, and a twig-like handle, which have been silvered. — 1830 – 1850 cup (MET), with applied relief decoration.

Alternatively, make a mini set of cups and saucers out of plasticine, air-dry modelling clay, or salt dough, to hang from the tree – Victorian style. It might be decorated with seasonal motifs in applied relief (hand-modelled, and then stuck-on to the surface).

Send in photos of your creations, and they might be shared through project social media. (Under 18s sending in content must do so through a parent or guardian.)