Teapot

Description

This lead-glazed black earthenware (blackware) teapot is rare in that it features applied relief ornament and appendages in contrasting pale clay. Although there is no evidence for it on this example, some early Staffordshire pots of this type feature cold (unfired) gilding on the relief ornament. The overall shape of the teapot as well as the applied leafy vines with berries look for inspiration to Chinese prototypes, such as unglazed Yixing red stoneware. An outdated collectors' term for blackware is "Jackfield ware" or "Jackfield type ware," as much of it was once thought to have been made at Jackfield in Shropshire, England. Numerous factories in Staffordshire produced large quantities of such ware, as did a lesser number in other counties, so confident attributions to Jackfield are difficult to achieve and the term is now rarely used for blackware.