Teapot
1678-1724 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This teapot was made in red stoneware in The Netherlands by the pottery established by Ary de Milde in about 1680. According to Jan van Dam (see below) 'The Dutch had adopted the custom of tea drinking in Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies in the 1640s, and the first record of an auction in which Chinese tea was sold in Amsterdam in any quantity dates from 1667.' Among the wealthy merchants and nobility tea-drinking gained popularity but the Dutch East-India Company was unable to secure regular supplies of sturdy Chinese redware teapots. While the Dutch also obtained teapots from southern China and Japan, it was clearly unable to satisfy demand. To fill this gap in the market, de Milde was one of three Delft potters experimenting with fine red stonewares in imitation of contemporary Chinese teapots imported from Yixing. The other two were Lambertus Cleffius of the 'Metal Pot' pottery and Samuel van Eenhoorn, owner of the 'Greek A' factory. While all three were given permission to sell their own marked red stonewares, nothing is known for certain of the products of these last two, while more is known about the wares of Ary de Milde as they are usually marked with his name and symbol of a running fox in an oval medallion. Unlike the Chinese redwares which were built out of slabs of clay and hand-modelled, de Milde's teapots were thrown on a wheel. The prunus blossom sprigs were moulded and applied separately, closely imitating the Chinese originals. De Milde died in 1708, his son-in-law in 1717, and his daughter Elisabeth closed the pottery in January 1724.
The metal mount to the tip of the spout would originally have been fitted with a fine chain which went around the knop of the cover and continued to a clasp on the top of the handle. This would have allowed the cover to be removed but not separated from the teapot or lost. The chains have often been removed or got broken over time. As only a small amount of tea would have been poured into each teabowl and hot water added from a separate tea kettle, a teapot like this would probably have held enough tea to serve perhaps as many as ten people.
Historical information about the de Milde factory taken from Jan Daniël van Dam, European Redwares: Dutch, English and German Connections, 1680-1780, in: British Ceramic Design 1600–2002, Tom Walford and Hilary Young (Eds), Beckenham, 2002
The metal mount to the tip of the spout would originally have been fitted with a fine chain which went around the knop of the cover and continued to a clasp on the top of the handle. This would have allowed the cover to be removed but not separated from the teapot or lost. The chains have often been removed or got broken over time. As only a small amount of tea would have been poured into each teabowl and hot water added from a separate tea kettle, a teapot like this would probably have held enough tea to serve perhaps as many as ten people.
Historical information about the de Milde factory taken from Jan Daniël van Dam, European Redwares: Dutch, English and German Connections, 1680-1780, in: British Ceramic Design 1600–2002, Tom Walford and Hilary Young (Eds), Beckenham, 2002
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Red stoneware with sprig-moulded decoration. Silver mount. |
| Brief description | Teapot, red stoneware with sprig-moulded decoration, made by Ary De Milde, Delft, 1678-1724 |
| Physical description | Teapot in unglazed red stoneware. Globular body with flattened shoulder and footring. Vertical handle, round in section; straight upward-pointing spout tipped with a metal mount, the hinged lid of which is surmounted by a small figure of a bird. Shallow dome cover with round knob. The sprig-moulded decoration on both sides consists of a serpent holding an apple among curly tree branches. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label | Three teapots
Made by Ary De Milde, Delft, 1670-1700
Mark: a running fox in an oval medallion. Inscribed "ARY DE MILDE" impressed.
Red stoneware with mould-applied decoration
C.142 & A-1938 Given by Professor Jocelyn Thorpe, CBE, FRS(23/05/2008) |
| Credit line | Given by Professor Jocelyn Thorpe CBE, FRS |
| Historical context | This teapot would have had mounts to the knob of the lid and the upper part of the handle too. The three mounts would have been linked by two chains, the foremost one connected to the small loop on the mount to the spout. In this way the lid was securely connected to the teapot. |
| Summary | This teapot was made in red stoneware in The Netherlands by the pottery established by Ary de Milde in about 1680. According to Jan van Dam (see below) 'The Dutch had adopted the custom of tea drinking in Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies in the 1640s, and the first record of an auction in which Chinese tea was sold in Amsterdam in any quantity dates from 1667.' Among the wealthy merchants and nobility tea-drinking gained popularity but the Dutch East-India Company was unable to secure regular supplies of sturdy Chinese redware teapots. While the Dutch also obtained teapots from southern China and Japan, it was clearly unable to satisfy demand. To fill this gap in the market, de Milde was one of three Delft potters experimenting with fine red stonewares in imitation of contemporary Chinese teapots imported from Yixing. The other two were Lambertus Cleffius of the 'Metal Pot' pottery and Samuel van Eenhoorn, owner of the 'Greek A' factory. While all three were given permission to sell their own marked red stonewares, nothing is known for certain of the products of these last two, while more is known about the wares of Ary de Milde as they are usually marked with his name and symbol of a running fox in an oval medallion. Unlike the Chinese redwares which were built out of slabs of clay and hand-modelled, de Milde's teapots were thrown on a wheel. The prunus blossom sprigs were moulded and applied separately, closely imitating the Chinese originals. De Milde died in 1708, his son-in-law in 1717, and his daughter Elisabeth closed the pottery in January 1724. The metal mount to the tip of the spout would originally have been fitted with a fine chain which went around the knop of the cover and continued to a clasp on the top of the handle. This would have allowed the cover to be removed but not separated from the teapot or lost. The chains have often been removed or got broken over time. As only a small amount of tea would have been poured into each teabowl and hot water added from a separate tea kettle, a teapot like this would probably have held enough tea to serve perhaps as many as ten people. Historical information about the de Milde factory taken from Jan Daniël van Dam, European Redwares: Dutch, English and German Connections, 1680-1780, in: British Ceramic Design 1600–2002, Tom Walford and Hilary Young (Eds), Beckenham, 2002 |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.142&A-1938 |
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| Record created | March 31, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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