Sophie von der Goltz
Head of Sale
Lot 19
A Böttger stoneware hexagonal teapot and cover, circa 1710-13
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£15,000 - £20,000
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Sebastian Kuhn
Department Director
Nette Megens
Head of Department, Director
Raphael Machiels
Associate Specialist
A Böttger stoneware hexagonal teapot and cover, circa 1710-13
Each side with relief-moulded decoration of flowering branches issuing from a rockwork base, the panels separated by etched borders, ridged loop handle, the inside of the pot covered with a black glaze seeping through in places, including just below the base, 9.3cm high three minute black dots triangularly placed inside the cover (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
The Collection of Lady Kate Davson (née Foster)
The form is recorded in the inventory of the Meissen manufactory of 3rd August 1711, and nine such Böttger stoneware examples (hexagonal teapots with raised flowers) were recorded in the 1719 inventory of the Dresden warehouse, as well as two black-lacquered examples (Claus Boltz, 'Steinzeug und Porzellan der Böttgerperiode - Die Inventare und die Ostermesse des Jahres 1719', Keramos, 167/168, 2000, p.128) and one Böttger stoneware example was listed in J.F. Böttger's quarters following his death the same year. The shape may be based on a silver prototype; see, for example, a Dutch silver kettle of similar form of 1697 illustrated in Asia in Amsterdam. The culture of luxury in the Golden Age, 2015, no.98.
The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace records eight '6. paßigte TheéPotgen, mit erhabenen Blumen, Deckeln, Henckel und Schnautze, 4. Zoll hoch, 5. Zoll in Diam: No. 207' [six-sided teapots, with raised flowers, covers, handles and spouts, 4 zoll high, 5 zoll in diam.], though one was subsequently listed as missing (Claus Boltz, 'Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und TurmzimmerInventar 1769', Keramos 153, 1996, p.106).
Ernst Zimmermann (Erfindung und Frühzeit des Meissner Porzellans, 1908, p.137) noted that the Dresden Collection included pieces such as the present lot that had cracked in the firing and been lined with a black glaze so that they would not leak, and that sometimes specks of glaze were also visible on the outside.
Similar examples were sold from the Saxon Royal Collections, Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 7-8 October 1919, lot 5, and 12-14 October 1920, lot 72. A teapot of the same shape with lacquered and gilt decoration was sold by Sotheby's London, 14 July 1998, lot 82.
Important Notice to Buyers
Condition is not specified in the lot cataloguing. Please request a condition report.