Bat-Printed cup plates.<.br>
Cup plates were an early form of saucer, somewhat deeper, and without the recessed center to hold a cup steady. They were often used with tea bowls, ie cups without handles. Sometime tea was poured from the cup into the cup plate and drunk from the plate. By about 1810, handled cups, with fitted saucers, were almost universal, and the deeper cup plates fell out of use.
Left: Small porcelain plate with a bat-printed landscape in the center showing a country house. Inner and outer rims of gilt. Unmarked. Maker unknown.
Center: Porcelain cup-plate with bat-printed landscape. Deep gilt rim. Spode, marked c1810.
Right: Cup plate with bat-printed central design of an exotic landscape with a leopard. Deep gilt rim. Unmarked, maker unknown. There are many bat-printed wares showing animals, especially deer and dogs, but this leopard is an extremely rare example.