A Chinese Teapot and Cover, Kangxi, circa 1720
This Chinese teapot is decorated in the Japanese Imari taste, with underglaze blue and overglaze iron-red and gilt. The cover and sides are painted with ruyi-shaped panels containing a garden scene in which tall, flowering plants are seen issuing from a zigzag fence. The spout and handle are both flanked by large, scrolling leaves. The shoulders and neck are painted with a border of tight scrolls, stiff leaves, flower heads, and alternating diagonal lines. The spout is a contemporary silver replacement moulded in the form of a pecten shell.
Rather charmingly, the teapot contains a piece of paper with the following handwritten message: Given to Father Richard J(?) Hutchinson, presumed to be the tea-pot Charles Ist had his last cup of tea from. A. I Hutchinson. Sadly, the execution of Charles I predates this teapot by around seventy years.
Condition: Some wear to the gilt decoration in places, a small, shallow chip to the glaze on the cover, and a short glaze fault to the neck. No other damage and no restoration.
Dimensions: Height (to top of knop) approximately 15 cm