Teapot with hinged lid

Date1759-1760

Artist/Maker Lothian & Robertson

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsH of body: 4/58" H to top of finial: 6-1/4" Size of body: 4-3/8" x 5-1/4" Wgt: 28oz 16dwt

Credit LineGift of John A. Hyman: The John A. Hyman Collection.

Object number1995-105

DescriptionA bulbous rectangular body on a short shaped everted foot chased in a running rococo decorative band, hallmarks in a row beneath the body, at one end a silver cast handle with a mannerist sea god’s head, separated from its mounts by bone or horn insulators, rising from a complex chased, frilled cartouche; opposite side with similar chasing from which emerges a broad, swirling chased panel with a broadly-spreading elaborate cast birds-neck spout with a similar sea god’s head, the sides heavily chased in rococo flowers and rocaille, around a cartouche, one of which is engraved with the motto MERITO (Deservedly) and the crest of Dunlop; a short neck above the body chased similarly to the foot, the slightly domed blind-hinged cover similarly chased, capped with a towering finial simulating a seafowl, either goose, duck, cormorant but more likely a combination of these, attached with two screw-nut mounts, the spout mouth broadly pierced.
Label TextThis teapot is a tour de force in Scottish rococo silver. It is from a small group whose basic body shapes are based on Chinese unglazed red stoneware examples. The flamboyant decoration, however, is without parallel in Scottish silver.
InscribedMERITO (Deservedly) and the crest of Dunlop
MarkingsMark of L&R in rectangle (Edward Lothian and Patrick Robertson; revised Jackson page 548), castle (Edinburgh town mark), thistle and date letter a capital Old English "E"
ProvenanceVendor: Brand Inglis, 105 Elm Grove Road, Barnes, London SW13 0BX on May 26, 1995. Formerly in an unidentified private collection