Teapot
Dateca. 1760
OriginEngland, Staffordshire
MediumStoneware, salt-glazed, drab with white clay and gold
DimensionsOH: 3 7/8"; OW: 4 1/4"; OL: 7 1/8"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1956-310,A&B
DescriptionSalt-glazed drab-colored stoneware teapot of squat globular body; drab colored body with applied white slip sprigwork forming interlacing linear scrolls decorated with oil gilding. White crabstock loop handle, S-shaped crabstock spout, and loop crabstock handle on low conforming lid.Label TextIn addition to the elaborate sprig-applied ornament, this teapot is further enhanced with gilding, a feature that is uncommon in both archaeological finds and written records. Although uncommon, the inventory of Sabina Trueman Marshall of Charles County, Maryland, records that she owned “1 Stone gilt Tea pott” at the time of her death in 1768. But without further evidence, it is impossible to determine if this tantilizing reference is to a white salt-glazed teapot, Littler–Wedgwood blue example, or drab ware pot like this example.
Gilding rarely survives on archaeological fragments. The pattern of this richly ornamented drab ware teapot matches fragments found at the Public Hospital site in Williamsburg, suggesting that the similar teapot might have originally been gilded, too.
A fragment of drab ware with lace-like sprigging was also found at the Jones site in Williamsburg; both that fragment and this intact teapot match additional fragments excavated from Humphrey Palmer’s factory in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
ProvenanceEx-collection of Revered C.J. Sharp (his collection of teapots)
A. F. Allbroo, Old English Furniture, Pottery & Porcelain, London
