Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
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Lot 194
A very fine Worcester teapot and cover, circa 1755
27 November 2024, 10:30 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £3,328 inc. premium
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Fergus Gambon
Director
A very fine Worcester teapot and cover, circa 1755
Of crisply-moulded strap-fluted globular form, moulded in high relief with rococo scrollwork cartouches framed with sprigs of foliage, the neck of the teapot and rim of the cover with delicate embossed tracery, the finial individually turned, the reserved panels painted in blue with the 'Angler under a Willow Branch' pattern, the main panels with a Chinese fisherman beneath a willow tree and another figure in a sampan by a further willow tree growing from fantastic rocks, a border of floral sprays around the shoulder, 14.5cm high, corresponding workman's mark of TF type on base and inside cover (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Phillips, 17 September 1997, lot 257
With Steppes Hill Farm Antiques
R David Butti Collection, Bonhams, 10 May 2006, lot 101
Pauline and David Tate Collection
Whilst a number of teapots of this shape and pattern are recorded, these vary greatly in the quality of the potting and precision of the decoration. This example is exceptional in every way. A very similar teapot is in the Klepser collection illustrated by Simon Spero (1984), fig.194. Another, with a different shaped finial, is in the Museum of Royal Worcester, illustrated by Branyan, French and Sandon (1989), pattern I.B.22.
When Branyan, French and Sandon compiled their Blue and White book in 1980, this pattern was named 'Indian Fisherman' because one of the authors thought the figure on the front had a feather in their hair, looking like a stereotypical character from a Western film. The pattern is actually a fancy version of the design on cups and saucers called the 'Fisherman and Willow Pavilion'. The figure used in the larger panels on teapots and on jugs, is clearly a Chinese fisherman and not a Native American. When the Museum of Royal Worcester updated its case labelling, a more appropriate name was proposed. The preferred name is now 'The Angler under a Willow Branch' pattern.