What a sad little teapot this is. Once pristine, this late 18th century Chinese porcelain globular-form teapot with Mandarin decoration in the Famille Rose palette has suffered years of abuse and neglect. It stands 5-1/4″ high and is 7-1/2″ wide from the tip of the spout to the end of the handle. I am told the hand painted decoration shows the Qianlong King making a secret visit to the river bank. Not only did the original porcelain loop handle fall off after the teapot slipped from the hands of whoever was serving tea or tidying up, but the body cracked and is chipped in numerous places. Regardless, the teapot must have been highly valued, as it was brought to a china restorer who created a rattan-wrapped metal replacement handle sometime in the 1800s. The lid did not fare well either, as after it shattered into 6 pieces at a later date, it was hastily glued back together, leaving many large gaps. But at last it ended up in my collection where it proudly stands alongside hundreds of other wounded survivors living together in solidarity.
This teapot, with similar form and decoration, shows what the original handle on mine would have looked like.
Photo courtesy of William Word Fine Antiques
Tags: Chinese, globular, Mandarin, metal handle, rattan
This is the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of teapots; how wonderful that it’s found a place in your collection. Big heart.
Yes, a big heart required to keep these pieces from landfill and gone forever. Fantastic.