Sold Ceramics - Sold Mandarin wares 1750-1790 - Page 1

Object 2011540

Teapot

China

1760-1770

Height with cover 160 mm (6.30 inch), diameter handle to spout 235 mm (9.25 inch), diameter of mouthrim 74 mm (2.91 inch), diameter of footring 69 mm (2.72 inch), weight including cover 614 grams (21.66 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 103 grams (3.36 ounce (oz.))

Of inverted pear shape teapot with vertical moulding on footring. Domed pierced cover with a pointed knob. The original handle is missing and replaced with a mahogany C-shaped handle fitted to the body with silver mounts. Barbed bent spout. Decorated in underglaze blue, iron-red, gold and various overglaze enamels with on either side a scroll-outlined panel filled with a lady seated at a table holding a fan in a garden landscape while watching a little boy, flanked by floral spays. On the cover two scroll-outlined panels filled with flowering plants and flanked by floral spays.

This shape of this teapot owes its origin to a more delicate and simple Meissen form. The simple globular teapots which had dominated the market until the 1760s gave way to these clumsier and larger forms for more than a decade, before copying the silver inspired drum shapes that followed in the last two decades of the 18th century and much of the 19th. (Litzenburg 2003, p.153)

Mandarin wares is the traditional name used in the northern Netherlands for a particular group of export porcelain dating to the second half of the 18th century. It is characterized by the decoration that shows a dense and crowded design of Chinese men ('Mandarins'), women and children in a garden, on a terrace or in an interior, all dressed in colorful garments. Apart from rose, green, brown and black enamel, a purple-violet enamel is often used. Less widespread is a combination with underglaze blue. The decoration can be detailed and precise, but on later pieces is often coarse and stereotypical, and it is frequently combined with a brown-orange enamel. Fanciful rococo-style arabesques and asymmetrical panels can surround the main scene. Larger pieces sometimes have a decoration in relief. Objects of better quality often have small cartouches filled with birds on a branch, flowering plants or landscapes, sometimes done in encre de Chine. Compared to the central scenes, it is clear that different craftsmen painted them. 'Mandarin' designs frequently appear on tea and coffee wares, on dinner sets and on display pieces like vases and garnitures. ‘Mandarin’ was much appreciated in the Dutch province of Groningen. A distinction was made between 'farmer's Mandarin' which is decorated without any gold, and the more precious 'gentleman’s Mandarin' which has an extra layer of gold.

Condition: The original handle is missing and replaced with a mahogany C-shaped handle fitted to the body with silver mounts. A chip to the rim of the spout. A short hairline to the rim of the mouth.

Reference:

Litzenburg 2003, p.153

Price: Sold.