A BÖTTGER RED STONEWARE TEAPOT AND COVER

Three different decorative techniques were employed on this teapot: moulded decoration, polished / cut decoration and incised decoration. Meissen employed glass-cutters and polishers from Bohemia to work on stoneware vessels, principally from 1710-12. Adam Heinrich Blumenthal went to Bohemia to recruit craftsmen, and in February 1710 engaged the polisher Samuel Hölzel, his two sons and 27 other glass engravers and polishers. Glass-cutters were even sent to the Leipzig Fair in 1710 to provide bespoke armorial decoration on Böttger stoneware pieces for aristocratic buyers. By the time Böttger's grinding mill at Weisseritz was completed in 1713 interest in stoneware was waning as porcelain had become more sought after. Consequently by 1712 only four glass workers remained at Meissen.