Coffeepot

Date1760-1780

OriginEngland, Derbyshire (possibly) or Staffordshire

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (creamware / cream-colored earthenware)

DimensionsOH: 11"; OW: 7 3/4"; Diam: 5 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-286,A&B

DescriptionCoffeepot of pineapple disposition with pear shape over spreading foot. The cover domed with small projecting flange. The finial of opening flower form. The spout in a horizontally compressed S-form. The bottom of which is molded with leaves; the upper portion with shell moldings radiating downward. The handle composed of stacked C-curves to make an S-curve. The transition between the curves with small outward flares. The handle attached to the body with oval spacers, per se, rather than directly. The outer portions of the handle with ribbing. The body and cover molded with three-dimensional diamonds recalling the scales on pineapples. Long, spiky leaves extend upward from the foot of the pot and downward from the finial on the cover. Two particularly long leaves are positioned to mask vertical mold lines. These, along with the spout and the handle are washed with green, which has bled (perhaps intentionally as the effect is successful) onto the ochre ground of the remainder of the pot. The contact points glazed. The underside with a foot ring of somewhat ambiguous nature. The underside of the pot unglazed, showing potting marks. The body dark cream colored and the inside with yellow-green glaze.
Label TextWhimsical tea and coffee wares in the shape of richly colored pineapples and cauliflowers were popular in colonial America in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. However, a 1767 letter from English potter Josiah Wedgwood to partner Thomas Bentley indicates that such "green and gold" items were already out of fashion in England. Wedgwood was glad to see these out-dated goods shipped to America. By doing so, he gained both income and much needed space in his warehouses. The potter's letter confirms that he, and no doubt most English manufacturers, occasionally dumped undesirable goods on a hapless American market. Ironically, merchants in America almost invariably touted the wares as "newly arrived from London" and "in the latest taste."
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceEx Coll: James Watts, Cheshire
with A. F. Allbrook, London

Exhibition(s)