Heading : A Fine Worcester Porcelain Two-handled and Lidded Chocolate or Caudle Cup with Saucer
Date :1768-1776
Period : George III
Marks :Underglaze blue 'Chinese square'. Albert Amor label
Origin :Worcester, England
Colour : Cobalt blue grounds, polychrome enamels and gilding
Pattern : Floral sprays on white reserves within highly elaborate gilt-scroll and open brocade type borders against overall reserves of deep cobalt
Features : The deep saucer, cup and cover all share commonly-shaped rims with five repeating pairs of curved lobes and a point, very like the outline of a classic 'Tudor rose'; the bowl has Ridgway-like handles with an additional spur and substantial lower terminals; the cover has a flower-head finial with layered petals
Condition : Very minor gilt loss on the rim. Some cobalt blushing above the gilt ring just below the rim of the cup; a shallow, 6mm chip out of the flange of the lid and the tiniest of nibbles from one of the finial petals
Restoration :None
Dimensions : Height of cup 12.2 cm to top of finial, saucer 4.7 cm deep and 14.8 cm diameter
Weight : 461 grams

Reference : The Dictionary of Worcester Porcelain Volume One,1751-1851 (John Sandon, 1993) page 113

Sandon concludes that pieces of this nature were either caudle or chocolate cups. Both were hot, sweetened drinks with the former being more of a restorative tonic for invalids rather than a luxurious treat. In its original, ethnic South American form, drinking chocolate was bitter and enhanced with chilli.

It has long been mooted that anything with a contoured rim was not to be put to the mouth for fear of spillage, and that we should think about using a spoon. However, both Sevres and Meissen - from whom Worcester took a great deal of inspiration - produced ecuelles with both contoured and flat rims.