A Spode commemorative two-handled mug dated 1857

A Spode commemorative two-handled mug dated 1857, painted with a head and shoulders portrait of William Taylor Copeland within a gilt foliate border, the reverse inscribed 'Success to the Staffordshire Potteries 1857', reserved on a gilt caillouté ground, 24cm across.

Provenance: Alfred Gresham Copeland, Robert Copeland (1925-2010), and thence by descent.

William Taylor Copeland (1797-1868) ran the Copeland porcelain factory from 1833. He was MP for Stoke on Trent between 1837 and 1852, then again between 1857 and 1865. This mug appears to have been made to celebrate his electoral success.