Teapot
ca. 1760
Medium
Lead-glazed earthenware
Dimensions
Height: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Pottery
Culture
British, Staffordshire
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Russell S. Carter, 1944
Accession Number
44.39.30a, b
Art Historical Context
This charming teapot, classified as "Whieldon type," hails from Staffordshire, England, around 1760, a golden era for British ceramics. Crafted from lead-glazed earthenware, it stands just 4 1/8 inches (10.5 cm) tall, making it a delightful, domestic object perfect for the tea tables of the emerging middle class. Thomas Whieldon, the innovative potter whose style this embodies, was a pioneer in Staffordshire's pottery industry, renowned for producing affordable yet vividly colored wares that brought luxury within reach. The lead glaze—a hallmark technique—provided a glossy, durable finish whi...
About the Artist
Whieldon type
Whieldon-type is not a single artist but a catalogue attribution used by museums for unmarked mid-18th-century Staffordshire earthenware in the manner of Thomas Whieldon (1719-1795), the celebrated English potter of Fenton Vivian. Whieldon perfected lead-glazed cream-colored earthenware streaked and dappled with metallic oxides - manganese browns, copper greens, cobalt blues - producing the mottle...