A BÖTTGER RED STONEWARE ENAMELLED TEAPOT AND COVER

This circular teapot was not thrown on a wheel but was press-moulded in four sections and looted together, as evidenced by the loot joins which are still just visible. It would appear that the present example may be the only known enamelled teapot of this squat globular form with a flat cover; examples of the higher (more globular) teapots with enamelled decoration exist, although these are also extremely rare. A teapot of the more globular type with a domed cover and with related moulded and enamelled decoration is in the Porzellansammlung, Dresden, and is illustrated by Ingelore Menzhausen, ‘Das Rothe und das Weisse Porcellain’ in Johann Friedrich Böttger, Die Erfindung Des Europäischen Porzellans, Leipzig, 1982, fig. 115, where she attributes the model to Johann Jacob Irminger.  The same teapot is also illustrated by Claus Bolz, ‘Steinzeug und Porzellan der Böttgerperiode – Die Inventare und die Ostermesse des Jahres 1719 -‘ in Keramos, 2000, No. 167 / 168, p. 116, no. 154.  

The first group of stoneware products recorded were a group of 16 especially fine pieces which were sent on 20th April 1720 to Augustus ‘the Strong’ while he was in Poland for his inspection. One of the items listed was 1 round enamelled teapot, and it is possible that the present teapot could have been the teapot sent for Augustus to inspect; see Ulrike Weinhold, ‘“of unusual design“ – Johann Jakob Irminger as the designer of Böttger stoneware’ in Dirk Syndram and Ulrike Weinhold (ed.), Böttger Stoneware, Johann Friedrich Böttger and Treasury Art, Altenburg, 2009, p. 67, where the other 15 pieces are listed.