It is possibly the earliest known object depicting cricket being played in Wales - a porcelain cup as part of a tea-set dating from the early 1820s which was made at the Nantgarw China Works which is in the National Museum of Wales’ collection at Cathays Park in Cardiff, and is now featured in the series of brand new information panels in the re-furbished Museum of Welsh Cricket (writes Andrew Hignell).
Thanks to a very generous grant from the Welsh Government as part of their Transformation Capital Grant scheme, an updated timeline showing the evolution of cricket in Wales is one of the many enhancements which is now in place in the Museum, which is situated on the first floor of the National Cricket Centre, with the timeline including images of this porcelain cup depicting young men and boys playing cricket during the pre-Victorian era.
What is most noteworthy is that the games being played involve a club-like bat, plus a set of two stumps rather than three. However, what is not currently known is where the cricket was being played and for whom the tea set was made. What is known for certain is that the tea-set was painted by Thomas Pardoe and created at the Nantgarw Works.
Born in Derby on 3 July 1770, Pardoe was initially an apprentice porcelain painter in his home town before, in the late 1780s, moving to Swansea to work at the Cambrian Pottery. Swansea was the location for some of the earliest records of cricket being played as well as the first-known cricket club being formed. The decoration on the porcelain cup could therefore have been based on the sketches which Pardoe made when he was based in Swansea.
By 1809 Pardoe had set up his own business in Bristol, so he may have also been sketching in the Clifton area where cricket was known to have taken place on The Downs. As far as porcelain production at Nantgarw was concerned, a china works opened in 1813, adjacent to the Glamorganshire Canal and using the excellent local coal. Pardoe was in residence at Nantgarw between February 1821 and July 1823 so it was during this period that the tea-cup was created.
It is known that items from Nantgarw were sold at auction in Cowbridge on 9 May 1821 and in Cardiff on 28 October 1822, but there are no surviving records of whether these items were part of the auction. Of course, it is possible that the items were specially commissioned for a wealthy landowner such as the Marquess of Bute who was based at Cardiff Castle or a prosperous industrialist such as Wyndham Lewis of Greenmeadow near Tongwynlais who in 1820 had become MP for Cardiff Borough. Both may have been instrumental in helping to establish the cricket club which was known to be in existence in Cardiff in 1819.
The background in the cup’s illustration shows a series of buildings, houses and a church tower so this could be a view of pre-Victorian Cardiff from the north. Of course, it is perfectly possible that the cup was sold to a gentleman from the Bristol area with the cricketing scene being a pastiche, using sketches from cricket on The Downs or elsewhere, and an imaginary townscape behind.
The original owner of this delightful tea-set may never be known, nor the precise location of the cricketing scene which Pardoe depicted onto the porcelain cup, but what is known for certain is that it is currently the earliest surviving artifact in Wales depicting cricket being played.
You can hear more about this fascinating object by listening to the Museum’s latest podcast featuring Andrew Renton, the former Keeper of Art at the National Museum of Wales and Andrew Hignell, the Curator of the Museum of Welsh Cricket. To listen to the podcast, click here
The Museum will also be open – as normal - during the lunch and tea intervals of Glamorgan’s forthcoming Rothesay County Championship match against Derbyshire, starting on Friday 2 May. For visits at other times, please send an email to museum@glamorgancricket.co.uk
With thanks to the National Museum of Wales for permission to reproduce this image of the tea-cup.