A Chamberlain Worcester coffee cup from the 'Horatia Service', circa 1802-03
Of bucket shape with an ogee handle, decorated with the 'Fine Old Japan' pattern no.240, the Imari design reserving gold-ground panels painted with coronets and the crest of the San Josef, 6.8cm high, marked with the pattern number '240'
Footnotes:
Provenance
Vice-Admiral Horatio, Lord Nelson
Emma, Lady Hamilton

The Horatia Service, ordered from Chamberlain during Nelson's visit in August 1802, included '12 Coffees & Saucers'. Four years later, when the final invoice was sent to Nelson's estate, these once again appear in the list, as '12 Coffees & Saucers... no.240 £6-15s--'. This works out at 11s.3d per cup and saucer, plus the extra charge for painting individual crests and coronets.

The 'Trickey Inventory' from circa 1813, listing Lady Hamilton's possessions as surety for a loan, included as part of a full description of the 'Horatia Set' '12 Coffee Cups and 12 Saucers (1 broken)'. Some of Emma's chinaware was sold at auction in 1813, although it is likely that the Horatia set remained packed in crates kept in a warehouse by Alderman Smith as surety against other money he had advanced to Emma. Emma's daughter, Horatia and her husband, Reverend Philip Ward had attempted to reclaim what they felt should have been hers when she came of age, and their correspondence with Alderman Smith mentions 'the service you are anxious to possess with the arms of Nelson' (Rina Prentice, The Authentic Nelson, pp.19-22). It is therefore likely that part of the Chamberlain service was reluctantly given (or sold) by Alderman Smith to Nelson's daughter Horatia. In the National Maritime Museum, three coffee cups and some matching saucers from the Chamberlain Horatia Service were gifted to the museum by the Reverend Hugh Nelson-Ward, grandson of Horatia, as part of the Nelson-Ward Collection. These had almost certainly belonged to Horatia and are identical to the present lot.

For further information on the Horatia Service please see the footnote to lot 41 in this sale.