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Teapot
Longton Hall porcelain factory - Enlarge image
Teapot
- Place of origin:
Staffordshire, England (made)
- Date:
1755-1760 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Longton Hall porcelain factory (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Mr Arthur Hurst
- Museum number:
C.265&A-1940
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 53a, case 3
Object Type
This teapot is small, reflecting the high cost of tea in mid-18th-century Britain. In 1747, a decade or so before this pot was made, the tax on tea imported from China was greatly increased, and the official figures for imports fell accordingly. However, a good deal of tea was smuggled in.
Materials & Making
Longton Hall porcelain has a very glassy composition. This could not withstand the thermal shock of contact with boiling water, so the teapot probably had to be slowly warmed up before use.
Trading
Longton Hall sold its wares from the factory site in Staffordshire, through London auctions, and at the 'Longton Hall China-Warehouse' in St Paul's Churchyard in London. In 1760 more than 90,000 pieces were sold at a closing down sale held in Salisbury.
Design & Designing
Ceramic vessels naturalistically modelled and painted as vegetables and animals were very fashionable in mid-18th-century Europe. The fashion probably originated in France or Germany and was soon taken up in Britain, especially at the Chelsea and Longton Hall porcelain factories. The Meissen factory in Germany may have been the first to make such illusionistic serving vessels.
