Description:
English black basalt stoneware teapot with a molded spout and handle that has an impressed "5" on its base, and an engine-turned body and cover decorated with herringbone and basketweave patterns made by using an engine-turning lathe on the sides and lid. In 1997, Diana Edwards attributed this teapot to the Davenport Factory of Longport, England, circa 1820; marked Davenport basalt pieces are very rare. 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 into the first decades of the 19th century. 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. After a partnership with Thomas Wolfe at the Islington China Works in Liverpool, John Davenport (1765-1848) took over John Brindley's Longport factory in 1784 where he produced both pottery and glass until he retired in 1830. The pottery was continued by his sons, Henry and William, but was in poor financial state under William's son, Henry, finally failing in 1887. The firm seems to have been been meticulous in marking its wares. The standard impressed mark consisted of the name Davenport curving above an anchor, with the name in lower case letters up to about 1815, but thereafter in capital letters. After about 1830, numbers were impressed on either side of the anchor to give the date of potting, such as the "4" and "8" for 1848. A wide variety of printed marks were used after 1830, almost invariably including simply the surname Davenport rather than any identifying initials. The place, Longport, also appears in later marks. The style of the printed cartouches as with the patterns, tended to follow current fashion.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+82.045 |
