The Tradition of the Collectable Teapot

The teapot was first developed in China in the 16th Century, the Japanese, who also drank tea, preferred to use bowls. By the 18th Century the teapots made at Yixing, in China, were being made in shapes which had auspicious meanings, for example, peach shape for long life and good luck, pomegranate for many, healthy children.

These early teapots, when imported to Europe, inspired potters to develop their flights of fancy. But Britain, being more keen on tea drinking than the rest of Europe, made the teapot their own specialty.

The mid-eighteenth century saw many fine teapots being produced, but Josia Wedgewood and Thomas Whieldon, with their range of pineapple, cauliflower and cabbage teapots in 1759 showed that fine quality could also be mass-produced.

Strange and amusing teapots were produced throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Some tried to re-invent the tea-making process with various compartments inside them, some were purely decorative, and in the nineteenth century some were made as satirical comments on contemporary figures - see the range of politicians illustrated here.

The Victorians enjoyed commemorating events, and the teapot was frequently used for this purpose, even as late as the first World War, when several potteries produced teapots with patriotic slogans to send to the troops.

The 1920.s and .30.s saw another period of amusing teapots in the shapes of racing-cars, pandas, ocean-liners and many country cottages. Although made for a mass-market, these are very collectable items today.

And so to the present, where a handful of small British potteries such as ourselves are producing teapots on a contemporary theme, but in the fine tradition of eccentricity and quality for which British teapots are noted. The methods of production remain basically the same and still require the same skills to produce as they did in the eighteenth century. These teapots could justifiably become the antiques of the future.