Sometimes we forget how to do formal meals, with multiple courses and special dishes, flatware and stemware for each course. Back in the day many families began the main meal with soup.
Depression era soup bowls usually were wide and shallow, with flat rims, like this Cameo green bowl. This shape lets the soup cool easily and was suitable for soup with solids that take longer to cool. You can find soup bowls shaped like this in some contemporary patterns, although many china makers have consolidated their bowls and offer fewer choices today.
Cameo Green Soup Bowl
A bouillon cup looks like a teacup with two handles. It is narrow and fairly deep in relationship to width to retain the heat in the bouillon and was served on a matching saucer. One could either drink the broth or use a spoon, but not both. This Fostoria Versailles bouillon cup and saucer is a great example.
Fostoria Versailles Etched Blue Bouillon Bowl and Saucer
Cream soup bowls had two handles like a bouillon cup but were wider. One used a spoon with these bowls and could tip the bowl to get the last bit. Here is a soup bowl in the Florentine 2 Poppy pattern, which is depression glass from Hazel Atlas.
Florentine Poppy 2 Yellow Depression Glass Cream Soup Bowl
Most depression glass patterns have bowls, smaller fruit, larger cereal or the formal flat soup, but only a few have the cream soup bowls, which are often rare. I don’t know of any that included a bouillon cup. Elegant glass patterns included cream soups, flat soups and finger bowls and sometimes bouillon cups.
If you are curious about different bowls, this article from Etiquette Scholar has a clear description of each type and how to use them.