Description:
English creamware teapot and a domed lid with a molded convolvulus knop over engine-turned vertical fluting and a cable border around the rim. According to Roger Massey, a number of embellishments to plain creamware emerged in the 1760s and 1770s such as the use of engine turnings in the 1760s with the introduction of the engine-turned lathe (Josiah Wedgwood claimed to have introduced the engine-turning process to the pottery industry in 1763) and pierced decoration in the 1770s. Massey also shows a teapot with the same handle and terminals, which he thinks is possibly Swinton. The Swinton Pottery was founded in 1745 on land belonging to the 1st Marquis of Rockingham, and was in business until 1842. The Pottery was little more than a country potworks, producing black-glazed (Jackfield-type) and slip-decorated wares in the Stafordshire tradition. However, in 1768, William Malpass (c.1722-1807) entered a partnership with William Fenney (c.1700?-1795), updated the pottery, and introduced the production of white salt-glazed stoneware and creamware. After Fenney left the Pottery in 1776 and Malpass in 1778, it was operated by Thomas Bingley (1757-1832) and Willoughby Wood (b.1732) until 1785, when James Green (1742-1805), William Hartley (1751-1808) and their associates who controlled the Leeds Pottery about 30 miles away took out a 21-year lease on the Swinton Pottery in 1785 which lasted until 1806. It is difficult to distinguish creamware made at Swinton and Leeds during this period (even beyond the normal copying of shapes and decoration by creamware manufacturers which makes attribution very difficult) since many of the same designs for classic "Leeds" finials, knops and terminals are found at both sites. To further complicate attribution, the Cox article, "Swinton Creamware and Pearlware c.1770-1820", shows a 1774 Swinton teapot which has a "rose" knop used extensively at Leeds; it is yet undetermined if both potteries purchased block molds for this finial from the same supplier or if the finial was first used at Swinton and later adopted at Leeds. Finally, John Brameld (1741-1819) and his sons were the last owners from 1806-1842. The cylindrical, straight-sided teapot has cable borders around the rim and at the base of the plain concave neck; an engine-turned vertical fluted pattern around the sides; an attached double-entwined rope-twist handle with flower and trailing leaf terminals; an attached spout with molded scrolling leaf decoration around its base; and a flat base with a cable rim border. The coffee pot (HD 2006.33.51) has the same terminals although a distinct difference in the color of the body (much lighter cream) from this teapot, and has been attributed to Swinton. Provenance: Grant Davidson Collection, no. E133. Condition: restoration to spout.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.33.48 |
