A Royal Worcester Aesthetic Teapot and cover,
Dated 1881
The double sided vessel finely modelled, one side as an effete young man, the other side as a lovesick maiden, the spout formed by their conjoined hand, their other arm forming the handle, he sports a sunflower, she a lily on neatly tailored 'Greenery-Yellowy' suit, inscribed underneath 'Fearful consequences through the laws of Natural Selection and Evolution of Living up to one's Teapot', 15.5cm high, puce factory mark, registration mark and designer's name 'Budge' (damage)
The double sided vessel finely modelled, one side as an effete young man, the other side as a lovesick maiden, the spout formed by their conjoined hand, their other arm forming the handle, he sports a sunflower, she a lily on neatly tailored 'Greenery-Yellowy' suit, inscribed underneath 'Fearful consequences through the laws of Natural Selection and Evolution of Living up to one's Teapot', 15.5cm high, puce factory mark, registration mark and designer's name 'Budge' (damage)
Sold for
£1,200
inc. premium
Footnotes
- This celebrated teapot satirises Oscar Wilde and the entire Aesthetic movement that swept the London art scene around 1880. The principal inspiration was Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta 'Patience', first performed in 1881. Worcester's design also pokes fun at an exhibition held at the Grosvenor Gallery when a single Chinese teapot was put on display to represent perfection in design and visitors were invited to go home and 'Live up to it'. The inscription alludes to this, as well as the controversy still raging over Darwin's theories on Evolution. The identity of 'Budge' whose name appears on the base has proved elusive but may possibly be a pseudonym chosen by Worcester's Art Director, R W Binns.
Category: Decorative Arts / General Ceramics and Glass
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