Images(2)

Teapot

Dateca. 1730

Attributed to Shelton Farm

OriginEngland, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent

MediumStoneware, salt-glazed

DimensionsOH: 3 7/8" (with lid) OH: 3" (without lid) OL: 5" (from spout to handle) Diam.: 2 /18" (of foot) Diam.: 1 7/8" (of opening)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Barbara Bilderback and The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2014-9,A&B

DescriptionSmall stoneware teapot, with body with faceted panels around the perimeter with arched tops further ornamented with sprig applied decoration including flowers and fleur-de-lis. Additional sprig decoration applied to the simple lid with acorn-shaped knop. Undecorated, pulled handle with pyramid-shaped terminal and a faceted spout.
Label TextUnlike much of the stoneware produced in the eighteenth century, this pot can be attributed to a specific source. It was made at John Fenton's and Thomas Hill's pottery at Shelton Farm in Stoke-on-Trent. While the pot is diminutive, it is not a miniature. Instead, its modest dimensions reflect the high cost of tea in the early eighteenth century. Fragments of tea wares from the Shelton Farm manufactory have been recovered archaeologically in Williamsburg as well as London Town, Maryland, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
ProvenancePurchased from: Martyn Edgell Antiques Limited