Monkey teapot
Porcelain and enamels, J.J. Kändler (modeller), Meissen, Germany, ca.1735
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Monkey teapot
Porcelain and enamels, J.J. Kändler (modeller), Meissen, Germany, ca.1735
The Chitra Collection is an extraordinary private museum of historic teawares. In 2011 Nirmal Sethia, the Chairman of the luxury tea company, Newby Teas, set himself the task of acquiring the world’s greatest collection of teawares to record and preserve tea cultures of the past. Today, the collection, named in honour of his late wife, Chitra, totals almost 2000 objects and is already the world’s finest and most comprehensive collection of its kind.
Porcelain and enamels, J.J. Kändler (modeller), Meissen, Germany, ca.1735
Porcelain and enamels, J.J. Kändler (modeller), Meissen, Germany, ca.1735
Silver-gilt and cloisonné enamel, Pavel Ovchinnikov, Russia, 1896-1908
Silver-gilt and cloisonné enamel, Pavel Ovchinnikov, Russia, 1896-1908
Bloodstone and gold openwork, Germany, ca.1750
Bloodstone and gold openwork, Germany, ca.1750
Silver and ivory, Paul Storr, England, 1814
Silver and ivory, Paul Storr, England, 1814
The Meissen manufactory excelled at Chinoiserie scenes, pioneered by the porcelain painter Johann Gregorius Höroldt. Chinoiserie ornament typically showcased exotic East Asian life, romanticised by a Western audience and thought to be typical of China, great examples of which can be seen on this week’s #objectinfocus.
This is a coffee pot, but fear not! It forms part of a wider travelling service and is decorated with tea scenes painted in Höroldt’s own hand. In the first, two figures are seated round a low tea table with tea bowls and tea pot, while a third figure stands over them with a fan next to a boiling kettle. The other side depicts a seated figure reaching towards a laid tea table. Even the lid follows this decorative theme, as a cross legged figure sits watching a kettle boiling on hot coals.
