The Sea & Symphony Collection – A Little Music with Your Tea
Where music meets the sea… and tea gets a little more interesting.
The Sea & Symphony Collection brings together three beautiful bone china mugs inspired by celebrated classical works with the sea at their heart.
Created especially for Oysters & Pearls, each design interprets the atmosphere and story of the music through original coastal artwork. Turn the mug around and you'll discover “A little note…” — a little of the story behind the work and its composer.
Which sea calls to you? Choose your favourite, or bring all three together as a rather special collection.
La Mer – Claude Debussy
A sweeping blue and turquoise wave curls towards a glowing horizon, capturing something of the changing moods and colours of the sea.
Composed between 1903 and 1905, La Mer is an orchestral work subtitled Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra. Its three movements take us from dawn to noon on the sea, through the playful movement of the waves, to a final dialogue between the wind and the sea.
The Hebrides – Felix Mendelssohn
Dramatic basalt columns rise from restless Scottish waters in our interpretation of Fingal's Cave.
Mendelssohn visited the island of Staffa in 1829, where the extraordinary landscape and famous sea cave made a lasting impression. The Hebrides, also widely known as Fingal's Cave, is a standalone concert overture — not a symphony — and has become one of Mendelssohn's best-known musical evocations of the sea.
Sea Pictures – Edward Elgar
Moonlight, rolling waves and a softer romantic coastline give this design its own distinctive character.
Composed in 1899, Sea Pictures, Op. 37 is a song cycle for contralto and orchestra, setting five poems by five different writers. Its five songs move through very different visions of the sea — from the tenderness of Sea Slumber-Song and In Haven (Capri) to Sabbath Morning at Sea, Where Corals Lie and the more dramatic The Swimmer. A version for voice and piano also exists.
Choose from
La Mer – Claude Debussy
The Hebrides – Felix Mendelssohn
Sea Pictures – Edward Elgar
The Complete Sea & Symphony Collection – Set of Three
A few practical notes
Beautifully made from high-quality bone china, each mug measures approximately 7.5 × 10.5 cm and weighs approximately 0.2 kg.
Each design is printed on both sides — with our coastal interpretation on the front and “A little note…” on the reverse.
The mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe and have a fade- and scratch-resistant coating. However, to help keep your Oysters & Pearls mug looking its best for as long as possible, we recommend gentle hand washing where possible.
Each mug is carefully packaged in a presentation box, making it a rather lovely gift for a musician, classical music lover, coastal soul — or simply someone who likes their tea with a little more story.
Please note
The artwork in this collection is an original artistic interpretation inspired by the theme and atmosphere of the named musical works. The mug designs do not reproduce musical notation or an original musical score.
Lifestyle photographs are styled for illustrative purposes and props shown are not included. Any musical notation that may appear within lifestyle imagery is decorative and is not presented as an authentic reproduction of the original musical score.
Designed by Oysters & Pearls and made to order.
