Teapot
ca. 1745 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
Early Staffordshire teapots were traditionally small, being graded by the makers themselves as for one or two cups. The tough slip-cast white stoneware is very thin, almost to the point of translucency.
Design & Designing
This pot has no prototypes in Chinese porcelain, although the general shape owes much to the products of two Dutch silversmiths, John Philip Elers and his brother David, who had made red stonewares in great secrecy at Bradwell Wood, Staffordshire, in the 1690s. No doubt many of their pots were available locally for copying. The early makers of block-moulds, desperate for Chinese designs with links to tea-drinking, have here used a source already 75 years old, converting engravings into bas-relief decoration, leaving the titles to explain their significance.
Although only about five examples of this teapot survive, the fact that these were made from several slightly differing moulds suggests a certain degree of popularity at the time. One of them is made of lead-glazed red earthenware, confidently dateable to the 1740s.
Early Staffordshire teapots were traditionally small, being graded by the makers themselves as for one or two cups. The tough slip-cast white stoneware is very thin, almost to the point of translucency.
Design & Designing
This pot has no prototypes in Chinese porcelain, although the general shape owes much to the products of two Dutch silversmiths, John Philip Elers and his brother David, who had made red stonewares in great secrecy at Bradwell Wood, Staffordshire, in the 1690s. No doubt many of their pots were available locally for copying. The early makers of block-moulds, desperate for Chinese designs with links to tea-drinking, have here used a source already 75 years old, converting engravings into bas-relief decoration, leaving the titles to explain their significance.
Although only about five examples of this teapot survive, the fact that these were made from several slightly differing moulds suggests a certain degree of popularity at the time. One of them is made of lead-glazed red earthenware, confidently dateable to the 1740s.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Slip-cast, salt-glazed white stoneware |
| Brief description | Hexagonal white salt-glazed teapot, the panals with moulded scenes adapted from Nienhof's Embassy of 1669, Staffordshire, ca. 1740-1745 |
| Physical description | Small moulded, hexagonal, white salt-glazed stoneware teapot, the panels with moulded scenes adapted from Nieuhof's Embassy of 1669; with lid. Applied spout and handle and knop on lid. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label | British Galleries:
The panels show Chinese men and women and the viceroys of Canton (now called Guangzhou). They are copied from illustrations in one of the earliest published accounts of Chinese customs. In 18th-century Europe, Chinese decoration was considered especially suitable for tea wares. The growing demand for tea spurred the expansion of the Staffordshire ceramic industry.(27/03/2003) |
| Credit line | Supported by the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | Probably made in Burslem, Staffordshire |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Object Type Early Staffordshire teapots were traditionally small, being graded by the makers themselves as for one or two cups. The tough slip-cast white stoneware is very thin, almost to the point of translucency. Design & Designing This pot has no prototypes in Chinese porcelain, although the general shape owes much to the products of two Dutch silversmiths, John Philip Elers and his brother David, who had made red stonewares in great secrecy at Bradwell Wood, Staffordshire, in the 1690s. No doubt many of their pots were available locally for copying. The early makers of block-moulds, desperate for Chinese designs with links to tea-drinking, have here used a source already 75 years old, converting engravings into bas-relief decoration, leaving the titles to explain their significance. Although only about five examples of this teapot survive, the fact that these were made from several slightly differing moulds suggests a certain degree of popularity at the time. One of them is made of lead-glazed red earthenware, confidently dateable to the 1740s. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.21:1, 2-1999 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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