How to Distinguish a Rose Medallion Cup

Gather information from book sources when identifying Rose Medallion motif. Consult specialty books such as Kovel's American Antiques, Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Chinese Export Porcelain in North America and Pictorial Guide to Pottery and Porcelain Marks. Go online to research 19th century porcelain for history and background. Check out auctions houses like Sotheby's or Dargate Auction gallery. Visit "The Helena and William Schulte Gallery of Chinese Art" in Daytona Beach (see Resources).

Verify the Rose Medallion motif on hand-painted cups by their recognizable four alternating panels. Decorative scenes feature birds, flowers and butterflies which interchange with people in a house setting. The paneled designs encircle a central gold "medallion" with a bird and tree peony. Nearly similar to Rose Canton and Rose Mandarin except that a true Rose Medallion cup will always depict people in alternating panels.

Distinguish Rose Medallion cups by the colors. Enameled pink in various tones, mostly pastel, combined with green, red, blue, yellow and gold. Due to age, any gilding will display more of a golden-brown to bronze tone rather than a shiny, perfected gold.

Identify the eggshell porcelain cups by their handles. Forms consist of braided strap, traditional loop, two-handled, rope or gilded twist, angular and stepped. A few, like the one pictured above, do not have handles. Types of cups in this motif are tea, demitasse, mustard and bouillon cups with a knobbed cover among others.

Note that after 1890, the United States introduced the McKinley Tariff that required all U.S. exports stamp their country of origin. Rose Medallion cups prior to this date do not have markings. Cups exported after 1890 will have "CHINA" in red, "MADE IN CHINA" or "CHINA" in a rectangle.