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Teapot
Unknown - Enlarge image
Teapot
- Place of origin:
Burslem, England (probably, made)
- Date:
ca. 1740 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Salt-glazed and slip-cast white stoneware
- Credit Line:
Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
- Museum number:
414:984/&A-1885
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 123, case 10
Object Type
Teapots were invariably small during the first half of the 18th century, not because of technical limitations of the ceramic material but because of the very high price of tea and the common practice of re-filling teapots with boiling water. This example is typical of the innovative slip-cast ceramic teapots made in Staffordshire after about 1740.
Time
Friction caused by the Spanish searching British ships trading with the West Indies led to Admiral Edward Vernon's boast in 1739 that he could capture the heavily defended fort of Puerto Bello with six ships of the line. This he did on 20 November 1739. He went on to capture in March 1740 the port of Chagres in Panama, an important depot for the trans-shipment of gold and silver bullion from South America to Spain.
Vernon returned to Britain to a hero's welcome, and was remembered in the names of streets and public houses, as well as in commemorative Staffordshire pottery and in delftware. His victories came as a great boost to British morale, at a time when European politics were still seen in terms of the 'Protestant North' versus the 'Catholic South' (the Holy Roman Empire). This was probably the last naval engagement between Britain and Spain. It heralded a period of British expansion in the 1750s, during which India and Canada were added to the British empire at the expense of the French.
