Eliza Simmance worked as a designer and decorator for Doulton’s factory in Lambeth from 1873-1928. She produced incredibly original and versatile work through from high Victorian Renaissance designs to simpler flowing Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs. This teapot represents her early work for the factory when she worked alongside other notable artists such as the Barlow sisters, for whom she designed vase border decorations. Simmance’s work gradually received wider appreciation. John Sparkes (Art Master at Lambeth School of Art and the National Art Training Schools at South Kensington) said in 1880:
"First among those who have thrown their whole energy into their work is Miss Eliza Simmance….She, too, has so many ideas to spare – more than she can work out by herself – that she keeps a staff of rising artists occupied in carrying out her inst."
This pot demonstrates Eliza's love of combining different decorative techniques, here incised, applied detail with bold modelling and distinctive coloured glazes. .