Teapot Stand thumbnail 1
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 52b

Teapot Stand

1759-1769 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This teapot stand is from a tea and coffee service for six people. It was used to protect the tea table from spillages of hot water when the teapot was filled from a kettle, and from the pot burning the table's surface. Such stands are occasionally shown in 18th-century paintings of tea drinking. In 1770, when a similar Chelsea tea and coffee service was offered for sale, it included a 'teapot and stand'. The stand may also have been placed over the slop basin to serve as a plate for slices of bread or cakes. Afternoon and after-dinner tea were generally served by the lady of the house in the drawing room in comfortably-off households.

Design & Designing
The service is similar to one offered at auction in London in 1770. This was described as 'a very curious and matchless tea and coffee equipage, crimson and gold, most inimitably enamell'd in figures, from the designs of Watteau'. Although the figure subjects here are not directly copied from the work of the French Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), they are certainly inspired by his work.

Materials & Making
The Chelsea porcelain factory introduced the crimson ground around 1760, when a London auction of Chelsea porcelain included 'a few pieces of some new Colours which have been found this year by Mr [Nicholas] Sprimont, the Proprietor, at a very large Expence, incredible Labour, and close Application'.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamel colours and gilt
Brief description
Teapot stand, porcelain, Chelsea Porcelain factory, Lodon, 1759-1769
Dimensions
  • Height: 3.49cm
  • Diameter: 18.41cm
Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 01/01/1998 by KN
Gallery label
British Galleries: TEA SERVICE, from a tea and coffee service
1759 - 1769
This English porcelain tea service is typical of those used in wealthier households during the 18th century. It consists of a teapot and stand, cups and saucers, a milk jug, a bowl for sugar and a dish for the tea dregs called a slop basin.(27/03/2003)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Miss Emily S. Thomson
Object history
From tea set - museum nos. 517 to 523-1902
Subject depicted
Summary
Object Type
This teapot stand is from a tea and coffee service for six people. It was used to protect the tea table from spillages of hot water when the teapot was filled from a kettle, and from the pot burning the table's surface. Such stands are occasionally shown in 18th-century paintings of tea drinking. In 1770, when a similar Chelsea tea and coffee service was offered for sale, it included a 'teapot and stand'. The stand may also have been placed over the slop basin to serve as a plate for slices of bread or cakes. Afternoon and after-dinner tea were generally served by the lady of the house in the drawing room in comfortably-off households.

Design & Designing
The service is similar to one offered at auction in London in 1770. This was described as 'a very curious and matchless tea and coffee equipage, crimson and gold, most inimitably enamell'd in figures, from the designs of Watteau'. Although the figure subjects here are not directly copied from the work of the French Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), they are certainly inspired by his work.

Materials & Making
The Chelsea porcelain factory introduced the crimson ground around 1760, when a London auction of Chelsea porcelain included 'a few pieces of some new Colours which have been found this year by Mr [Nicholas] Sprimont, the Proprietor, at a very large Expence, incredible Labour, and close Application'.
Collection
Accession number
521-1902

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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