'ANGEL OF FREEDOM' TEA CUP AND SAUCER A tea cup and saucer after a design by Sylvia Pankhurst, decorated with the badge of the Women's Social and Political Union printed in green and washed in purple, a trumpeting angel under the banner 'FREEDOM' and the initials 'WSPU', the rims and angular handle also picked out in green enamel, printed marks for H.M. Williamson and Sons of Longton, saucer 127mm. diameter, [1909] (2) Footnotes: This tea cup and saucer were part of a set designed by Sylvia Pankhurst for the WSPU in 1909. No firm produced pottery and porcelain in support of the women's suffrage movement commercially, so pieces such as this service were commissioned by the movement itself. In early 1909 the WSPU commissioned Williamson's of Longton, Staffordshire to produce wares for use in the refreshment room at the Prince's Skating Rink Exhibition held in Knightsbridge for two weeks in May 1909. Each piece bears Sylvia Pankhurst's 'Angel of Freedom' in the WSPU colours, a motif designed specifically for the exhibition. After the exhibition the china was sold off in sets of 22 pieces to raise funds for the cause. Votes for Women of 13 May 1910 noted that some items were still available to purchase; 'a breakfast set for two, 11s; small tea set, 15s; whole tea set £1; or pieces may be had singly' (Elizabeth Crawford, The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928, 1999, p.108). The motif also appears on many other items such as the illuminated addresses awarded to prisoners, badges and other ephemera. Christabel Pankhurst wrote of the opportunity that the exhibition afforded for supporters to purchase a wide variety of items in the WSPU colours and thus spread the message through merchandising: 'every member of the Union will become an advertiser for the movement, and will bring to the Prince's Skating Rink a dozen, or a score, or an even larger number men and women of her acquaintance who... will appreciate for the first time the strength of the woman's movement' (Crawford, p.137). This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing