Beautiful Rare Antique NPSK Early Nippon Hand best Painted Porcelain Cup and Saucer, Nagoya Potteries Shippo Kaisha, Japan circa 1880

Stunning antique rare early Nippon hand painted porcelain cup and saucer, made in Japan circa 1880.

Beautifully hand painted lotus flowers, tiny daisies and garlands. The cup has an embossed pattern around the outer upper edge and a scalloped rim with gilded detail. The saucer also has an embossed pattern around the outer edge with the same scalloped and gilded edge as the cup. The cup and the saucer both have a pale blue band with hand painted gilded accents.

In excellent condition, this cup is over 140 years old. There are no chips, cracks or stains. There is some very small crazing best to the cup glaze. There is also some fading of the gilded decoration particularly on the handle and in the inner of the cup.

Whilst perfectly useable, this cup would be best suited as a display piece. The porcelain is amazingly delicate, a truly beautiful item.

The saucer is 13.25 cm in diameter the cup is 9.5 cm in diameter and 5 cm tall.

The NSPK with the crown and the laurel leaves dates the cup to around 1880. This mark was only used for a short period before Nagoya Potteries began to mark their pieces Nippon for export to the US.