Bat printing is one of the more delicate transfer techniques used in Georgian porcelain, working with a thin gelatine "bat" rather than paper to lift an image from an engraved copper plate, which let decorators achieve genuinely fine, soft-edged detail that standard transfer printing couldn't quite manage. This set of three slop bowls carries that technique in en-grisaille — monochrome grey-toned printing — depicting classical urns festooned with gilt garlands, the porcelain itself thin enough to show real translucency when held to light.
A gold band trims each rim, and the interior centre of every bowl is hand-painted with small, delicate gold flowers, a nice touch of individual handwork against the more mechanical precision of the bat-printed exterior. Slop bowls served a genuinely practical role in Georgian tea service — a place to tip out cold dregs and used leaves before pouring a fresh round — which makes a set surviving intact together, rather than as isolated single pieces, worth noting.
Condition notes
Very good antique condition. One bowl has some staining to the porcelain and nibbles to the foot; one bowl has two cracks; one has a hairline crack to the exterior; very light wear to gilt appropriate to age and use.
