Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Lot 132
An important teapot and a cover attributed to Lund's Bristol, circa 1748-50
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£5,000 - £7,000
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Fergus Gambon
Director
Jim Peake
Head of Department
An important teapot and a cover attributed to Lund's Bristol, circa 1748-50
Of simple hexagonal shape with a plain loop handle and curved spout which is round in section, the cover of corresponding shape although with non-matching decoration, the teapot painted in blue on both sides with a peony plant beside a willow tree, a small peony sprig beneath the spout, a feather-and-flame motif painted on the handle and on both sides of the spout, dark 'comma' motifs painted on the body on either side of the terminals, the cover painted with a Chinese riverscape including floating rocks, 9.5cm high, a tiny blue stroke or numeral 1 mark on both the cover and the base (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Liane Richards Collection
Anton Gabszewicz Collection
Literature
Ray Jones, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain (2018), p.412, figs.i-ii.
Only one other hexagonal teapot of this type is recorded, almost identical to the present lot although it has retained its matching cover. This was formerly in the Geoffrey Godden, Billie Pain and Colin Hanley collections. This had been the subject of much discussion with different authors suggesting Worcester, Lund's, Chaffers and finally Limehouse. Finds of a biscuit cover and rim section on the Limehouse site show that small hexagonal teapots were clearly made there. Also a number of decorated wasters from larger octagonal teapots show that the pattern on the present lot was also made at Limehouse.
Research continues and these two distinctive teapots are no longer considered to be Limehouse. Instead it seems more likely both were made at the Lund's Bristol factory. The paste and glaze has a more vitrified appearance compared with most Limehouse and, while neither have been analysed, this is probably due to the presence of soaprock.
The cover on the present lot is more typical of Lund's Bristol in appearance and the decoration is remarkably similar to the circular cover of a cream pot also attributed to Lund's Bristol. Both of these hexagonal teapots and the two landscape-painted lids are illustrated and discussed together by Ray Jones, The Origins of Worcester Porcelain (2018), p.412, figs.i-iv.