An early New Hall Teapot, painted with figures in a garden, circa 1782-87
Of flattened globular form, this early New Hall teapot is painted in bright enamels with two chinoiserie figures in a fenced garden. The adult figure on the left holds a parasol, whilst a child carrying a windmill toy presents a flower. To the right, a similar flower grows from a large pot. The scene is repeated on the reverse. The top of the shell-moulded spout is painted with a puce foliate design. The handle with its flattened spur thumbrest is painted in puce with a leaf-and-dot design. A fairly complex border consisting of a loop, floret, and blob beneath a wide and a narrow band, is executed beneath the rim in puce, red, and blue enamel. The greyish paste and potting flaws fit with early New Hall, shortly after the Champion’s Bristol patent arrived in Staffordshire.
Pattern 20, but typically unmarked for this early period.
Provenance: Purchased privately from Dr Michael Witherick. Michael had a passion for English hard paste porcelain, having bought his first piece of Champion’s Bristol from Simon Spero in 1969. He built up a large collection of Bristol and Plymouth, and for over 30 years, he collected New Hall porcelain, including this rare teapot.
Condition: Excellent – no damage or restoration, and with very little wear to the enamel decoration. The cover is lacking. There are a few minor firing and potting flaws expected with early porcelain. These include three short glazed clay tears to the handle terminals, which occurred when the clay began to shrink as it was drying; areas where the wet glaze has not covered (or been wiped from) the edge of the foot rim; small patches of kiln dust to the glaze around the inside of the rim; and the conjoining of three holes in the strainer. This occurred when the potter used a small stick to make the strainer holes in the leather-hard clay, prior to glazing.
Dimensions: Height 12.3 cm
New Hall & Its Imitators, David Holgate, Faber (1971).
A Partial Reconstruction of the New Hall Pattern Book, Pat Preller (2003).
New Hall Porcelains, Geoffrey Godden, Antique Collectors’ Club (2004).