In all possibility the eighteenth century teapots were taken by silver-worker and potter alike from Chinese porcelain prototypes, which must have come over in considerable numbers in the trading days of John Company, as we see that the earliest lantern example of the seventeenth century proceeded from that worthy company, and there was a great number imported from Holland. Whether this be granted or not, it may be laid down as a rough rule for guidance that whenever the silver-worker and the potter produced results closely approaching each other in form, the worker in metal was not availing himself of the best qualities of his art. He may have been following the trammels of fashion, or he may have been a mediocre worker on a lower plane.
That the potter did actually emulate the silversmith can be seen at once in the Staffordshire silver-lustre teapots, which followed as far as possible the silver shapes. They were in use in cottages, and set on the dresser looked very imposing. If the squire’s lady had her silver, or the farmer’s wife her Sheffield plated set, the cottager had her lustre ware.
In the museum at Etruria are some models carved in pear-wood of urns and bowls which Josiah Wedgwood had executed for reproduction in his ware. These remarkable carved wood vessels exhibit a strong similitude to the designs of contemporary silver plate. They illustrate the point that the potter at his highest actually did look with delight on the creations of the silversmith. It was natural that he should do so, and it was equally natural that the contemplation of them should influence his own art. There is a silver teapot designed by John Flaxman (Wedgwood’s great designer). It is melon-shaped, silver gilt, chased with scrolls, medallions, and cupids riding on dolphins. It is inscribed: “Designed by John Flaxman for his esteemed friend and generous patron Josiah Wedgwood, 1784.” The maker’s mark is I.B. under a crown, and the date letter is for 1789.
KETTLE WITH STAND AND SPIRIT LAMP. 1746.
Maker, Paul de Lamerie.
(By courtesy of Messrs. Elkington & Co.)
The Coffee-pot
In regard to the coffee-pot, there is an example of the date of 1686, now on view at the London Museum from the collection of Mr. H. D. Ellis. It will be seen that the coffee-pot was always tall; it never lessened its height to become possessed of the pear or gourd-shaped or circular body of its rival. It actually influenced the height and form of the teapot and it was not until the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century that the teapot threw off its similitude to the coffee-pot in regard to height; and from that date when tea-drinking had become established, it pursued its own way in design.