Images(3)

Teapot

Dateca. 1695

Attributed to John Philip Elers (1693-1700)

Attributed to David Elers (1693-1700)

OriginEngland, Staffordshire

MediumUnglazed red stoneware

DimensionsH: 4 1/8"; Diam. body: 4 1/16"; OW: 6 3/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-304,A&B

DescriptionUnglazed red stoneware slipcast teapot of hexagonal shape. The cover has flat top surmounted by a lion with a very long tail nearly surrounding figure, the figure in gilt. The hexagonal sides are ogee molded. The body of globular hexagonal form with each side having an oval panel with Chinese designs in low relief the sunken back ground being flat and gilt. The loop handle is pentagonal in section; the short curving spout is hexagonal in section. The short hexagonal foot splays outward slightly. Vent hole through lid coming out of base of chest of animal.
Label TextChinese porcelain vessels with facetted sides, molded with counter relief designs, were made from the early fourteenth century. Porcelain and red stoneware teapots, some of them gilded, of this form were imported into Europe by the fourth quarter of the seventeenth century. The pseudo-Chinese mark, impressed by the Staffordshire potter on this copy or adaptation of a Chinese original, may have been an attempt to pass off this English piece as a desirable Oriental original. During the early decades of the eighteenth century, English silversmiths especially favored the use of facetted bodies for vessels associated with the service of tea and coffee.
MarkingsPseudo Chinese hallmark stamped on bottom of vessel.
ProvenanceAcquired from Tilley & Co., 1958.

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