English Teapots: a Brief History
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Ceramics ww-2.jpg: Royal Worcester teapot with naturalistic ww-3.jpg: Staffordshire agateware teapot with ww-1.jpg: Fluted Worcester teapot and cover with design, c.1885 – an example of the influence of the compressed circular body shape and looped Japanese pattern, c.1770 (image courtesy of Aesthetic Movement on ceramic design (image handle, mid-18th century (image courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) Woolley and Wallis) English Teapots: A Brief History By Roland Head ea first arrived in the UK in the mid seventeenth century. At the time, these exotic, Tfragrant and expensive leaves took more than a year to make the sea journey from China and were highly prized. Tea drinking was the preserve of the rich and became very fashionable. Its mystique and exotic appeal were heightened by the need to use imported Chinese porcelain teapots and cups - at the time, British manufacturers had not discovered how to make porcelain and their earthenware bodies were unable to reliably withstand boiling water. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the popularity of tea drinking was helped by the availability of English porcelain. Manufacturers such as Bow, Chelsea, Derby and Worcester had discovered how to make soft paste porcelain and this rapidly grew in popularity, with manufacturers first imitating Chinese styles and then developing their own. ww-6.jpg: Worcester Creamware teapot and cover Eighteenth Century with hunting design, late 18th century (image Tea drinking remained fairly exclusive, as did tea wares until 1784, when the courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) government of the day was persuaded to lower the punitive rates of duty levied on tea. The move was a response to several consecutive poor grain harvests, which had driven up the price of beer - until then the staple drink, including at breakfast, of the majority of Britons. This new affordability meant that the popularity of tea spread wildly, as did the commercial opportunities for potteries. The British porcelain industry was given a further boost when in 1791, the East India Company decided to stop importing Chinese porcelain. This left British makers with an effective monopoly, since Britain was at war with most of the Continent at that time and so could not import from Europe. By 1800, tea drinking had spread to most sections of society and by 1815, hard paste porcelain had been perfected. This used calcined animal bones to produce a body that was finer, whiter and stronger than soft paste porcelain. This formula, better known as bone china, remains the predom- inant form of porcelain made by British manufacturers today. ww-4.jpg: Worcester teapot with stylized Oriental The Nineteenth Century design, c.1765 (image courtesy of Woolley and By the late nineteenth century, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the intro- Wallis) duction of steamships in competition with the sailing clippers on Far Eastern routes had brought the journey time for new tea down to two to three months. At home, the market continued to expand massively, creating huge opportunities for potteries. In 1780, just twenty-seven factories were manufacturing porcelain. Between 1810 and 1820, as many as 106 were in business. Competition was brutal and imitation of other companies’ designs was widespread. Tea’s exclusivity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries meant that teapots and other tea wares were produced in relatively low volumes and at high quality levels. This changed in the nineteenth century, as volume and affordability became important in products aimed at the mass market. As a result, transfer-printed designs increasingly predominated and quality became more variable. Shapes & Designs Teapots with oblong and oval shaped bodies were popular in the first part of the nineteenth century. As the Victorian period began, the more flamboyant and rounder Rococo style became fashionable and teapots often gained pedestals. Some of the most extravagant and decorative teapots were the majolica designs produced by Minton, often ww-5.jpg: Aesthetic Movement teapot, late featuring monkeys. These were highly successful and remain very valuable and 19th/early 20th century (image courtesy of Woolley collectable; the most expensive example I can find in this magazine’s auctions results and Wallis) ANTIQUES INFO - January/February 12 Ceramics database is of a vulture attacking a snake which sold for a hammer price of £17,000 in 2007. Prices in the low thousands are more common for less unusual examples of these extravagant and fragile Minton majolica designs. George Jones majolica is also highly sought after, as are the decorative and figurative teapots produced by companies such as Royal Worcester. Moving closer to the end of the ww-9.jpg: Rare early 19th century Swansea spiral nineteenth century, the Aesthetic and basket moulded teapot, cover and stand, decorated with pink roses and green gadroons, Movement gathered pace and designers dated 1817 (image courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) turned to naturalistic themes. Hand ww-14.jpg: Rare Worcester fluted teapot with Chinese figures design, c.1755-60 (image courtesy painting made something of a resurgence, of Woolley and Wallis) especially at the more costly end of the market. Noted Arts and Crafts designers such as William de Morgan and the Martin Brothers occasionally turned their hand to teapot design; such examples are unusual and collectable. Twentieth Century Commemorative designs had become popular during the Victorian period and remained so throughout the twentieth century. Royal figures, politicians and ww-12.jpg: Cauliflower moulded teapot and cover contemporary events all provided grist for with matching bowl, early design c.1760 (image the commemorative designer’s mill. One courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) of the most ubiquitous twentieth century ww-8.jpg: Early 19th century Minton moulded commemorative teapots is the Second teapot with floral design (image courtesy of World War ‘War Against Hitlerism’ teapot, Woolley and Wallis) which was given to people who donated aluminium saucepans and other such items to the war effort; aluminium was in short supply, unlike clay! The number which still exist today suggests that this donation campaign was very successful. While these teapots make for a nice piece of contemporary history, they are not very valuable. Of more interest to collectors of twentieth century teapots may be the leading Art Deco and studio pottery manufacturers of the last century. English ww-13.jpg: Minton tortoise teapot and cover, Art Deco designers and factories such as c.1895. These high quality wares were very popular Susie Cooper, Clarice Cliff, Shelley and remain so today (image courtesy of Woolley ww-11.jpg: A New Hall type teapot demonstrating and Wallis) (Foley) and Poole all made valuable how popular silver shapes were also used for contributions. Clarice Cliff’s designs ceramic teapots, this example decorated with continue to outpace most others from the Chinoiserie and dating early 19th century (image period, although Shelley china shapes such courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) as Vogue are also highly valued. The art and studio pottery market is harder to generalise. Tableware was not generally a priority for potteries such as the Martin Brothers, Ruskin or Doulton Lambeth, but occasional teapots and other related shapes were made. Also notable are later potters such as Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie and others whose work is scarce and valuable to its specialist market. More mainstream is the antithesis to the Leach school of thought, Troika Pottery, which ww-7.jpg: An unusual art pottery teapot; Doulton did produce some tableware including at Lambeth stoneware design by Hannah Barlow with ww-10.jpg: Barr Worcester teapot and cover dating least one teapot design. There are a incised hunting scene, late 19th/early 20th century c.1800, decorated with panels of colourful birds number of other twentieth century studio (image courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) and insects (image courtesy of Woolley and Wallis) ANTIQUES INFO - January/February 12 Ceramics potteries whose wares are highly valued. However, this is a highly specialised and low volume market, difficult to research and difficult to obtain. Damage and Condition To some extent the same rules and risks of condition apply to all teapots, whether they are twenty years old or two hundred years old. Handles, spouts, rims and lids can be easily damaged. These areas should be carefully checked for restoration or reattachment. Older teapots should not be picked up by their handles, ww-15.jpg: Rare Chaffers Liverpool teapot and as these joints may have weakened with cover decorated with the arms of Brougham and age and wear. Cracks in older items may Lamplugh, c.1765 (image courtesy of Woolley and have been repaired in the traditional Wallis) manner, with staples or rivets. Such items should not be excluded from consider- majolica-1.jpg: 19th century unattributed majolica ation as long as their price reflects their teapot (image courtesy of www.teapotworld.co.uk) condition. From a collecting point of view, the honesty of a period repair is often preferable to a modern restoration. The Market The market for antique and collectable teapots does not exist in isolation and can broadly be linked to the general state of the ceramics market, and to the trends and fashions which direct it. Recent years have seen a tremendous boom in good Chinese porcelain tableware, much of which has been returned to Chinese ownership. The most valuable English teapots fit into one of three categories: 1. Seventeenth and eighteenth century creamware and early soft paste porcelain. 2. Nineteenth century majolica and worcester-1.jpg: 18th century Worcester teapot featuring Chinese figures design (image courtesy of aesthetic movement wares by good www.teapotworld.co.uk) factories e.g. Minton and George Jones majolica, Royal Worcester. 3. Early twentieth century Arts and Crafts snufftaker-1.jpg: 19th century, treacle-glazed Toby and Art Deco e.g.