Tea Set Made by Belle Vue Pottery, Hull c.1826-1841
The unusual design of this tea set holds clues to its Hull roots. The teapot and milk jug have very high necks, which are highest at the front. This style is normally very rare but is common in ceramics made at Hullâs Belle Vue Pottery. The saucer holds another clue. Unlike most other pottery, it has no cup ring to hold the teacup in place. Belle Vue made many saucers like this. The Belle Vue Pottery was run by a merchant called William Bell. It manufactured ceramics on the Humber bank from 1826-1841. The pottery site was near to where Kingston Retail Park is today. Despite its location near the centre of Hull, most Belle Vue products were destined for foreign markets. Because of its location on the Humber bank the pottery had its own wharf. Ships tied up there to unload raw materials and to take aboard finished products for export. William Bell operated a warehousing business in Hamburg with his brother Edward so most of his products were exported there. Other destinations included Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Spain. Most Belle Vue pots, including this one, were made from good quality white earthenware. The majority were decorated with printed patterns. These were quick and cheap to produce as the same engraved copper plate could be used to print hundreds of pots. It would have been more expensive and time consuming to produce a hand painted tea set like this one. The bold floral design decorating this tea set was painted directly onto the pot before it was glazed. This was the most common technique for applying painted decoration at Belle Vue. There are a few surviving pots with decoration painted on top of the glaze.
