Featured Trouble identifying maker and / or pattern

Hello everyone,
Im delighted to join you here... this is my first post, and I've come to the well to see if anyone might be able to advise me!

On a recent vacation, my wife fell in love with a gorgeous tea set (8 cups, 8 saucers) that she found in a flea market, so we bought them home. Neither cups nor saucers have a backmark, unfortunately, but we would love to know more.

They are *very fine* china, and are hand-painted (looking under a loupe, brushstrokes are evident, and no two patterns are identical across all 16 pieces).
When held up to a light source, they are almost transparent.

The shape is lovely with a wasplike waist and foot, and the handles quite Art Deco.(The shape calls to mind similar shapes by Limoges).

Can anyone possibly shed any light or do you perhaps recognise the shape / manufacturer or pattern? We are also trying to determine age, but are quite stumped.

Thank you for indulging me.
Rory

 

Gorgeous

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the forum, Rory.
Early morning here, so thank you for the tea, nice gesture.
Very beautiful set, nice photos, others will be able to tell you more.

 

You really need a side view showing the whole handle, against a plain background, to do an image search.

 

Thanks. Are you talking about using a reverse image search? Great idea!

 

Welcome, Rory. I'm leaning towards Japanese eggshell porcelain based on the thinness of the porcelain. The decoration also strikes me as Japanese. The shape could date back to the Depression Era but that shape continued to be used at least into the 1950's. The hand painting might indicate older production. It throws me a little that they are unmarked. I don't think the shape or decoration is right for the Nippon era. All this JMHO. Others may well think differently.
Don

 

Hi Don, thank you for your input. We also tossed between French and Japanese, and a good friend even suggested Bavarian. There are so many reasons to suggest its any number of them, but the lack of backmarks is maddening!

 

I think French is a real long shot. I've handled a lot of Limoges porcelain but never anything that was almost transparent. And most Limoges and Bavarian manufacturers use decals rather than hand painting due to the expense.
Don