Teapot with applied decoration, stoneware and gilded silver, China, Yixing, Ming dynasty, dated 7th year of Tianqi reign (1627) and mounted in Europe about 1628-1650

A round teapot with sprig-moulded decoration of a prunus branch on both sides, and on the lid are four ruyi heads of triangular shape. The handle, knop on the lid and spout are fitted with European silver-gilt mounts each with a small loop for attaching to a chain. An eleven-character inscription in three vertical lines is incised on the flat base:
Tianqi dingmao year Mengchen made for the Hall of Friendship.
Hui Mengchen was a potter whose works have been much imitated by later generations. The V&A teapot is considered a genuine work of Hui not only because of its sturdy form which is comparable to excavated examples of late Ming date. Its sprig-moulded prunus decoration and silver-gilt mounts are also very similar to those found on a double-spouted teapot in the Royal Danish Kunstkammer (Ebc88), inventoried in 1656.

Made by the potter Hui Mengchen at Yixing in Jiangsu Province, China

Object Type
This teapot was made at kilns at Yixing in central southern China, for a Chinese client. We know this because it bears a mark that names the potter and a room in the home of the patron who ordered it.

Subject Depicted
The teapot was made for a Chinese client and has specifically Chinese symbolism and writing. However, it ended up in Europe, where it was embellished with silver-gilt mounts. By contrast, many teapots that reached Europe were designed with more simple shapes, and without decoration with special symbolic meaning. The prunus design was popular on both imported and home-produced wares.

C.16&A-1968