This stoneware teapot is in the form of a sheng. This was a Chinese musical wind instrument made from a group of reeds or bamboo tubes of different heights. The sheng was a particularly popular type of decoration in the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). At this time it was used to represent the Chinese word for 'growing' or 'give birth to', which is also pronounced 'sheng'.
This teapot is one of a pair, but since they were hand-made the two pieces are not identical. Even the brown clay fired to a slightly different colour. They were listed in the inventory of the great British collector William Beckford after his death in 1844. The two teapots appeared in the sale of his estate in 1845, and in the same year illustrations of them featured in the Illustrated London News.
Physical description
A Yixing brown stoneware teapot in the form of a sheng, a musical wind instrument formed by a group of reeds or bamboo tubes of different heights. A cash pattern has been cut into the base to reveal the inner wall of the pot - a feature that would not be visible except when pouring the tea. A small cartouche with the name Menghou in seal script appears below the handle.
The sheng was a particularly popular decorative motif in the Qing dynasty as a rebus for 'growing' or 'give birth to', a word also pronounced 'sheng'.
The teapot is one of a pair, but since they were hand-made the two pieces are not identical. Even the brown clay fired to a slightly different colour.
A very similar teapot is in Dresden (N93, PO 3896), which was catalogued in 1721.
Place of Origin
Yixing, China (made)
Date
1700-1720 (made)
Materials and Techniques
Red stoneware, hand moulded
Marks and inscriptions
A small cartouche with the name Menghou in seal script appears below the handle.
Dimensions
Height: 18.2 cm, Width: 14.1 cm
Historical context note
Bet McLeod's research has revealed that these two teapots were in William Beckford's inventory after his death in 1844, appeared in the sale 1845 and illustrated in the Illustrated London News 1845. She found no trace of Beckford's acquisition of the teapots.
Valuation is for one teapot
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publishing, 2008, pp. 88-89.
Masterpieces entry
The extraordinary teapot was made in Yixing, a small town located a little way inland from the coastal city of Shanghai. It is modelled to in the shape of a sheng, a Chinese musical wind instrument formed by a group of hallow reeds or bamboo tubes of different heights.
The rise of Yixing to prominence was the result of the changeover from whipped tea, which as prepared in a bowl, to steeped tea in China, which could be prepared in a pot, the latter becoming prevalent in the sixteenth century. In Yixing potters discovered deposit of a clay known as 'purple sand' that fires to a variety of rich brown colours. Yixing clay is highly plastic and as a result even amateur potters could mould it into the desired shape. It needs no glazing and remains slightly porous, allowing any unpleasant smells from the boiled water to evaporate, while retaining the aroma of the tea - or at least so believed the Chinese tea connoisseurs. According to Chinese textual sources, it was a Buddhist monk who first used Yixing clay to make teapots, and he signed his work upon completion. Since then Yixing potters have prided themselves on their creativity and dexterity, and they enjoyed higher social status than their Jingdezhen contemporaries.
Yixing teapots were exported in some quantity to Europe, where they inspired imitation in Delft, at Meissen and in Staffordshire (see p.90). This teapot and its pair were once owned by the eccentric millionaire antiquarian and collector William Beckford, and similar pieces entered the Dresden collections of Augustus the Strong before.
Exhibition History
Rare Marks on Chinese Ceramics (19/11/1998-28/05/1999)
Labels and date
Teapot
Made by Menghou
1700-1720
This teapot is shaped like the Chinese musical instrument sheng.
Unglazed brown stoneware
Yixing kilns, south China
W.H. Cope Bequest
Museum no. 662B&C-1903 [2007]
‘Purple sand’ teapot
China, Yixing
1700–20
This teapot imitates a sheng, a Chinese reed instrument. It was made after the Chinese switched from drinking tea whipped in a bowl to steeped tea, prepared in a pot.
‘Purple sand’ teapots from Yixing were praised by Chinese scholars and tea connoisseurs. They were also exported to Europe, where potters tried to imitate them.
Unglazed brown stoneware
Museum no. 662&A-1903
W.H. Cope Bequest. Formerly in the collection of William Beckford (1760–1844) [September 2009]
Materials
Stoneware
Techniques
Unglazed
Categories
Ceramics; Tea, Coffee & Chocolate wares; Drinking; Stoneware
Collection code
EAS
