Coffeepot

Date1745-1749

Artist/Maker Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory 1745-1769

MediumSoft-paste porcelain

DimensionsH: 6 3/8in. (16.2cm) ; H (with cover): 8 3/4in. x Dia: 5in. (12.7cm); Dia (with handle): 5 3/4in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1962-99,A&B

DescriptionSoft-paste porcelain coffeepot with conforming foot. The belly of the coffeepot is lobed and then tapers to a narrower cylindrical neck. The spout was molded separately and attached just below the rim. There is relief decoration of branches with flowers, resembling a tea-plant. The four branches start at the base of the coffeepot and spiral upwards, counter clockwise. The molded handle has an acanthus leaf decoration on the upper curve. The domed lid also has four branches with flowers in relief. The branches on the lid radiate from the knop and spiral clockwise. No color has been applied.Label TextChelsea tea-plant coffeepots vary in height by about one and one-half inches, this example falling approximately in the middle of the range. A rare form in Chelsea porcelain, coffeepots survive only in the strawberry-leaf and tea-plant patterns.

Fragments of a waster from a coffeepot in this design were excavated on the Chelsea site in 1843, and an unglazed cover (or perhaps the mold for a cover) was found on the same site in 1906.Inscription(s)NoneMark(s)Incised triangle on exterior bottomProvenanceEx coll: M.G. Kaufman (K30), purchased from Stone in about 1932 (according to M.G. Kaufman's comments in October 1962)