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
Black basalt, a material that was first introduced to the Wedgwood manufactory in 1768, is an extremely hard stoneware made from reddish-brown clay which turns black on firing due to the addition of manganese oxide. The production of black basalt was inspired by the excavation of Etruscan antiquities from archaeological sites in Italy, and by the many vases in the renowned collection amassed by Sir William Hamilton.
This example from 1895 was made using the slip-casting method, whereby liquid clay is poured into a mould and allowed to set before firing. The low-relief Neoclassical figures were moulded separately and applied to the body.
