Vintage Aynsley Turquoise Corset Teacup & Saucer – Acid Etched Gold Acanthus Interior, Bone China, England Cabinet Cup 1960s

An Aynsley teacup and saucer in the firm's Corset shape — solid cerulean-blue exterior, fine-bone-china interior, and an acid-etched gold acanthus filigree band running around the inside rim of the cup. The Corset cup is the flared trumpet shape Aynsley used through the 1950s and 60s for its high-end cabinet teaware: narrow at the foot, widening through the body, opening to a generous flared rim. The handle is the small curled scroll Aynsley reserved for the shape.

Tilt the cup forward and the interior gold work catches the light. The gilt band is acid-etched — the porcelain surface chemically etched in an acanthus-and-scroll pattern, gold paste laid into the etched relief, fired, then hand-burnished. Sit with the band: each acanthus leaf is rendered with its veining picked out separately, with shadow dots filling the background of each cell, and an S-scroll tendril runs between leaves to give the band rhythm. The acid bites at slightly different depths across the pattern so the band catches light unevenly — some passages glow brighter, others sit deeper — the visible tell of multi-pass etching rather than single-flat transfer-print gold.

The cerulean blue on the outside is a single dipped underglaze colour — even, mirror-smooth, no speckle or wash mark, which is the technical achievement of solid-colour bone-china glazing at this tier. The saucer follows the same logic: cerulean blue around the outer ring, a clean white well at the centre framed by a gilt circle, and a fine gilt scalloped rim.

The base reads in green-script Aynsley crown stamp + Est. 1775 / Made in England / Fine English Bone China — the standard Aynsley mark of the 1950s–70s window.

A cup-and-saucer for the Aynsley Corset-shape collector, for the first-tier English bone-china cabinet (sitting alongside Coalport, Mintons, Royal Worcester gilt), for the gold-encrusted gilt specialist, for the cerulean-blue interior, or as a Mother's Day / wedding-shower / milestone-anniversary cabinet gift.