Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 58
A rare Chelsea teapot and cover, circa 1753-54
1 December 2025, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Jim Peake
Head of Department
Fergus Gambon
Director
A rare Chelsea teapot and cover, circa 1753-54
Of hexagonal shape, with a straight spout and loop handle, finely painted in puce by Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale with a classical landscape scene depicting two figures in conversation, one dressed in Roman armour, the other pointing towards an animated statue of Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion, his club held high above the unfortunate creature, the statue raised on a large rectangular plinth, a flock of birds in flight in the sky above, a floral spray and scattered sprigs to the reverse, the domed cover painted with two figures seated in a landscape before a tree and distant mountains, 14.2cm high, red anchor mark to the interior (2)
Footnotes
Provenance
Phillips, 26 May 1999, lot 165
Colin E Hanley Collection, Sotheby's, 15 May 2014, lot 137
With Stockspring Antiques, 2017
Literature
Adams, Elizabeth, Chelsea Porcelain, 2001, p.109, fig.8.19
White, Mary, 'Luxury porcelain decoration in London 1750-55: O'Neale and London Ateliers', ECC Trans, Vol.30, 2019, p.41, figs.11 and 12
White, Mary, Drinking at the Whites' House, Vol.2, 2021, p.306, fig.b
In her 2019 ECC paper, Mary White highlights several aspects of the painting on this teapot which are characteristic of O'Neale's hand, including the painterly sky with a flock of birds, the distant mountain and shadows extending to the right. The tree on the cover is also painted in a style found on many of his Fable wares. She highlights the clever and amusing addition of a club to the statue of the hero, given that Hercules strangled the Nemean Lion, which leaves no doubt as to his identity and draws the viewer's eye to the struggle. See lot 52 in this sale for a Vauxhall group of this popular subject. A similar teapot painted in puce with Roman soldiers and inscribed 'M S C' in the panel is illustrated by Stephen Hanscombe, Jefferyes Hamett O'Neale, 2010, pp.70-1, no.55. For a bowl with related classical decoration in puce by O'Neale, see lot 59 in this sale.