A Staffordshire lead-glazed teapot and cover, circa 1750
17
A very rare lead-glazed teapot and cover attributed to Isleworth, circa 1756-60
Of globular form resting on three paw feet with lion head terminals, with a crabstock handle and spout picked out in blue-grey, the body with a mottled brown tortoiseshell colouring applied with crisply moulded scrolling roses, lotus leaves and other leaves, 12.4cm high (some restoration to the cover) (2)
Sold for £2,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Provenance: Jonathan Horne, formerly in the Kanter Collection, sold by Sotheby's London, 14 March 1975, lot 183. This teapot was illustrated and discussed at length by Tom Walford, An unrecorded Isleworth Creamware Teapot, ECC Trans, Vol.20, Pt.1, pp.71-3. Also illustrated and discussed by Tom Walford, A Collector's Progress, English Pottery Studies in Honour of Jonathan Horne (2011), p.119, fig.6. It exactly matches the reliefs on a teapot in Northampton Museum that shows the distinctive 'propeller' arrangement of three leaves on the cover. The present teapot has only two pointed leaves in a similar arrangement on the lid, the third having been replaced by a lotus leaf. Shards recovered from the Isleworth site show this distinctive feature as well as precise turning at the base of the finial. This leaf arrangement has not been noted on finds from any other kiln site.

Category: Decorative Arts / British Ceramics

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John Sandon Bonhams
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