Teapot

Date1740-1760

MediumPorcelain, hard-paste

DimensionsOH: 5" with lid

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1964-333,A&B

DescriptionChinese porcelain teapot and cover decorated in underglaze blue. A Chinese landscape appears on both sides in a leaf-shaped relief surrounded by willow branches and peony and other flowers. The view is of a house looking across water toward the mountains and a slender, four roofed pagoda. A cell diaper band encircles the top, with four reserves of roughly 8-petaled flowers and two leaves each. The neck or collar is 1/4" high. Both the spout and handle attachments are closely flanked by hatched leaves. The simple handle is thin but rather large and is decorated along its center with a lancet-leafed branch tipped at the top with a bloom. The spout angles sharply upwards and bears a similar, though much shorter branch on its underside and a cross-like flower on the top. Three large holes in triangle formation filter flow to the spout from the inside. A fine blue line marks the juncture of foot and body with another above edging aligning the lower handle

The lid is a low dome with an inverted pointed finial, half brushed with blue. A cruder version of the body band decoration appears around the edge. Two pairs of linked sprigs appear on either side of the dome. A small vent hole is pierced nearer the knop. The 1/4" flange is canted in.

Label TextThis globular Chinese export porcelain teapot is decorated in underglaze blue with a view of a house looking across water toward mountains and a slender, four roofed pagoda.
A cell diaper band encircles the top, with four reserves of roughly 8-petaled flowers and two leaves each. The neck or collar is 1/4" high. Both the spout and handle attachments are closely flanked by hatched leaves.

While many Chinese porcelain teacups and saucers are documented archaeologically in Williamsburg, few 18th-century porcelain teapots or other components of the tea service have been recovered. This teapot is representative of pieces that have been found here. One of similar globular shape, also decorated in underglaze blue, was recovered from a site very near the Thomas Everard House on Palace Green.
ProvenanceRobert H. Palmiter

Exhibition(s)