Description:
English straight-sided oval black basalt teapot with handle, spout, and metal hinged lid. A hard black earthenware made of black-stained clay that was stained throughout with manganese and iron (known then as "Egyptian black") was being made in Staffordshire by about the mid 18th century, but was perfected by Josiah Wedgwood about 1768 and marketed to great success as ornamental and tablewares. In a letter to his partner, Thomas Bentley, Wedgwood hoped that the fashion for white hands and black teapots would continue. Although many English potters made black basalt, there was less interest in America: George Washington owned a black basalt coffeepot; some basalt was found in the wreck of the DeBraak in the Delaware River; and a few other fragments have been found at archaeological sites. The body is molded with a classical ornament of rosettes, acanthus leaves, and palmettes, with sprigged decoration applied to the side reserves. One scene depicts a woman with a cupid; the other has a classicaly draped woman at an altar feeding a large eagle. The interior has a strainer over the pouring opening. The underside of the pot is marked "36".
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+91.076 |
