Royal Doulton Kingsware Huntsman and Foxhounds Loving Cup

This Loving Cup is from the Kingsware collection created by Charles Noke, Chief Designer and Artistic Director at the Royal Doulton company in Staffordshire in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. The fox hunting motif shows a portrait of a huntsman in traditional sporting garb on one side, and a pack of foxhounds on the other. Noke developed Kingsware at Royal Doulton to compete in the Art Pottery markets with the tastes of the Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau, and Arts & Crafts styles in mind. Kingsware, a Noke-created technological innovation unique to Royal Doulton, is especially noted for its lustrous brown glaze featuring underglaze amber-colored and polychrome raised details. This line of Royal Doulton Art Pottery became a major collecting field in the early twentieth century. Kingsware was in production from 1898 to 1939. On the bottom are stilt marks from the kiln firing, and the stamped black hallmark of a crowned lion standing on a larger crown over a medallion inscribed with the words "Royal Doulton England", which dates the piece to 1898-1911. It is a perfect gift for the aficionado of fox hunting and British country traditions. It is useful for many household functions, as well as shining on display in a collection.