Advertising Teapot
Dateca. 1810
MediumYellow-glazed earthenware (lead-glazed earthenware)
DimensionsOH: 11 3/4" (including lid); OL: 17 3/4" (handle to spout); OD: 10 9/16" (body at widest point).
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Troy D. Chappell Fund
Object number2023-319,a&b
DescriptionAdvertising teapot: circular footring supports the large globular body that rises to a short cylindrical neck; the molded tapering spout with a 25-hole diamond shaped strainer is opposite the extruded ear-shaped handle with leaf-shaped thumb rest. The low-domed lid with a short rim and deep bezel topped by an inverted teardrop knop. The teapot covered allover in a yellow glaze; hand-painted and transfer printed in black on one side with a ship amidst waves beneath an arched verse reading, "May we allways have good Tea bread & butter plenty / Sugar store & water more to fill this pot when empty". Below the ship the verse, "Pray ladies all do make so free / And tell us how you like your Tea / Comefill up your cups & let them move round / That we may continue in Sisterly love" above a leafy floral swag. The other side painted with a basket of flowers sitting on a table. The lid painted ensuite with floral sprays. The footring, handle, spout tip, edge of the lid, and knop picked out in black.Label TextA monumental teapot, this object most likely graced the shop window of a china, earthenware, or perhaps even a tea merchant. The second verse is found on a variety of ceramic objects in the 19th century and became associated with the women’s suffrage movement in the same century.
InscribedHand-painted and transfer printed in black on one side with a ship amidst waves beneath an arched verse reading, "May we allways have good Tea bread & butter plenty / Sugar store & water more to fill this pot when empty". Below the ship the verse, "Pray ladies all do make so free / And tell us how you like your Tea / Come fill up your cups & let them move round / That we may continue in Sisterly love".
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceBefore October 2023, unknown; October 2023 [John Howard Antique English Pottery, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK); October - November 2023 [Robert Hunter, Yorktown, VA]; November 15, 2023 to present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)
