Comparatively few teapots were made in England before the eighteenth century and these are now exceedingly rare. As the fashion for drinking tea spread, the demand for the right kind of vessel in which to brew it brought about new types of containers for sugar, milk and tea. These tea accoutrements were made increasingly throughout the eighteenth century until, by the final decades, they had become an important branch of the silversmith’s work. Late seventeenth century teapots are unique and are mostly seen in museums. Outstanding among them is the historical conical-topped teapot (1670) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with the spout quaintly set at right-angles to the handle, a practice which was short-lived. Another shape of this early period looks like a melon or similar fruit. (more…)

In the greatest possible contrast to all this white and cream-coloured wares come teapots in the austerest black –but all the same with decorative possibilities for those with an eye for contrasts. There are those in black basaltes, an unglazed sort of stoneware originally developed by Josiah Wedgwood. It is stained black all through and usually has only moulded decoration, but there are some types with red encaustic colours. The shapes are pretty well the same as in jasper ware. Then there are the so-called “Jackfield” pots, which are actually on red earthenware, but covered by a shiny black glaze sometimes with gilded decoration—though this is often quite worn off from years of washing. The early Jackfield ware has a browny tinge, but the trade also uses this name for black-glazed Victoria wares which sprout all over with coloured pads of flower and curlicues. (more…)

Can one collect teapots? Don’t they all look alike? And wouldn’t a whole lot of them together look simply grotesque? A year or two ago there was an exhibition in London of a collection of teapots in all the best eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century wares. They were not perfect specimens —most of them had a chip here or a crack there—and they had evidently been got together by somebody with a good deal more taste and intelligence than money. But the whole show looked most attractive and clearly showed, first, that there is nothing at all monotonous or grotesque about a collection of teapots, and secondly that it can be made into an interesting and beautiful decorative feature of your house. (more…)