A Very Rare Böttger Stoneware Polished and Engraved Teapot and Cover, Circa 1710-13

Lot Closed

April 4, 02:41 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

A Very Rare Böttger Stoneware Polished and Engraved Teapot and Cover, Circa 1710-13

of globular form, affixed with an eight-sided polished spout and a loop handle with similar polished fluted bands, the lower body with two shaped angular horizontal polished strapwork bands terminating in scrolls, embellished further with cut foliate scroll ornament, the shoulder similarly ornamented with polished bands radiating from the spout and upper handle terminal, the foot rim and underside with circular polished bands, the flat cover with a facet cup polished knop, with similar ornament

height 4 in., 10.2 cm

The present example belongs to a small group of Böttger stoneware teapots decorated with both polishing and engraving. Of the handful of teapots recorded, the closest is an example in the historic Schloss Friedenstein Collection, Gotha, inv. no. St 325, illustrated in Martin Eberle, Das Rote Gold, Die Sammlung Böttgersteinzeug auf Schloss Friedenstein Gotha, 2011, p. 60, no. 43, which features almost identical polished banding and carving.

Further teapots of the type include one in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest, acc. no. 5886.a-b, with scrollwork reserving a figure of Hercules;

A silver-mounted teapot in the National Museum in Warsaw, inv. no. SZC 197/a-b MNW, carved with medallions and trophies;

A teapot carved with scroll work ornament formerly in the Collection of Adalbert von Lanna, Prague, sold, Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, March 21-28, 1911, lot 1083; and another similar teapot in a Private English Collection.

The Meissen manufactory employed glass engravers from Bohemia to apply their skills of polishing, engraving, and incising to use on Böttger's newly invented stoneware vessels; and as early as 5th August 1710, twenty-nine glass-cutters are recorded in the list of workers at Meissen. However, with the continuing development of a porcelain body at Meissen, interest in brown stoneware began to diminish, and by 1712 only four glass workers remained employed at the factory.