Trembleuse

Vienna porcelain trembleuse cup from the du Paquier period, 1730
Gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé by Sèvres c. 1776

Trembleuse or tasse trembleuse[1]: 32  also gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé, is a drinking cup and saucer with the saucer given a raised holding area, called the "gallery", in which the cup sits more securely than in the normal style. The saucer therefore becomes more of a cup holder than the normal shallow near-plate.

It was designed to allow people with a weak grip or a medical condition involving shaking or trembling hands to drink a beverage, initially tea or hot chocolate. The cup sits in a saucer with either a well, or a raised rim to prevent the liquid from spilling.[2]: 349  Cups were designed with or without handles, and sometimes a lid. They were normally sold singly, rather than in sets.

Such saucers had been common in Chinese ceramics for centuries, where they are most often called "cup stands". In many Chinese examples the well in the stand is open at the bottom. In Europe they originated in Paris in the 1690s.[3]: 130 

The name is modern: they were called a variety of names by various manufacturers. Sèvres used the term Gobelet et soucoupe enfoncé for a saucer with a well in catalogues from 1759,[1]: 46  also tasses à toilette et sou-coupes. Meissen used Schokoladetassen ("chocolate cup"), Vienna Schokoladebecher mit Einsatztasse, and Höchst Porcelain Kronenschale ("crowned cup").[4] Many of the most famous porcelain manufacturers, such as Sèvres, , and produced trembleuses, but they were not often made by English manufacturers. Often the well in the saucer is in openwork, as in the Vienna example illustrated.

  1. ^ a b Jones, Christine A. (29 April 2016). "Caution, Contents May Be Hot: A Cultural Anatomy of the Tasse Trembleuse". In Baird, Ileana; Ionescu, Christina (eds.). Eighteenth-Century Thing Theory in a Global Context: From Consumerism to Celebrity Culture. Routledge. pp. 31–48. ISBN 978-0903485258.
  2. ^ Bagdade, Susan (2004). Warman's English & Continental Pottery & Porcelain: Identification & Price Guide. Krause Publications. ISBN 9780873495059.
  3. ^ Jones, Christine (13 May 2013). Shapely Bodies: The Image of Porcelain in Eighteenth-Century France. University of Delaware. ISBN 9781611494099.
  4. ^ Hillier, 63