Description:
With no Chinese porcelain protoypes to copy, British ceramic tea canisters of the 18th century took several different forms. They are mostly, however, square or octagonal with a wide cylindrical lip, and seem to derive from the japanned metal canisters used for displaying and dispensing tea and coffee in grocers' shops. By contrast, smarter tea canisters of glass or silver tended to copy the wooden tea chest, complete with its wavy metal edging and corners. Only later in the century was the little baluster-shaped canister copied by English porcelain factories (for example, Worcester) which imitated Chinese vase-like versions made solely for export. English creamware tea canister with tortoiseshell decoration with typical blurred and run green and brown colors. The potteries at Bovey Tracey made a variety of ceramic wares including tin-glazed earthenware, white salt-glazed stoneware, redware, creamware, and pearlware. According to Brian Adams and Anthony Thomas, this tea canister is of the Bovey Tracey cherub type usually made in pearlware; this canister is the only known example of this pattern of tea canister decorated using the tortoiseshell technique. All known dated pearlware examples were made in the 1790s. The press-cast, square tea canister has molded cherub reliefs on three of the four sides; two sides have similar figures of a cherub holding a bird and a nest (representing Spring); and the third has a churub holding a flower garland (representing Summer). The flat top has four molded busts on each corner and a molded foliate design around top edge; the round cover has a bust finial over four bands of decoration - a molded "stitch" pattern, two bands of impressed dots, and one band of impressed circles. These cherub sprig reliefs represent the seasons of Spring and Summer. A related pearlware spirit flask, c. 1790, owned by dealer John Howard has all four season cherubs represented on it. The relief images on the side were probably inspired by sprig molds of the seasons seen on contemporary examples of Wedgwood's jasperware.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.082.1 |
