Sacred Bird & Butterfly Tea Cup and Saucer - Blue

The design of the elegant teacup is colorful and the handle is unique. Licensed Product of Historic Charleston Foundation. Our new version has not been seen before. The Sacred Bird and Butterfly was a Chinese export pattern of about 1800 and was intended for those who admired the sophistication of placing traditional Chinese motifs of birds, butterflies and flowers on European shapes. The Chinese word for butterfly, tieh, is a pun which expresses the wish that the owner might live to a ripe age. These motifs were rendered with characteristic understatement in the traditional Chinese orange and gold colors in an all-over pattern.Today we offer it in Blue with silver luster and banded in gold. The marriage of shape and design was a success and was reproduced in English china of about 1800-1810. Our reproductions are based on originals in Historic Charleston. Dishwasher safe.

Diameter 3.75 inches