Belle Vue hand painted tea cup
The painted flowers adorning this teacup may be faded, but the yellow glaze covering it is still bright and shiny. The glaze has survived more than 160 years because it is tough and waterproof. In fact, glaze is a form of glass. Glazing is essential for earthenware pots like this one, which would otherwise be porous and unable to hold liquids. This bright yellow glaze is also decorative. Without it the teacup would be a bland cream colour. 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. A group of archaeologists excavated the Belle Vue pottery site in 1970. The archaeologists found hundreds of pieces, including this teacup. The teacup was broken into several pieces and had to be pieced back together. Most of what we know about Belle Vue pottery comes from this excavation. 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 piece like this one. 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.
