Tea Kettle

Date1760-1775

MediumJapanned sheet copper ("Pontypool"), iron, and wicker

DimensionsOH: without handle: 10 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1980-46,A&B

DescriptionCircular domed lid with gilt, flattened-knop finial; bezel fitted snuggly within body. Kettle of flattened globular form with narrow vertical rim; pivoting, trefoil-shaped bail handle of iron covered with wicker; handle secured to body with two cast escutcheons, each bearing a mask surrounded by foliate decoration in relief, and pinned to body by three rivets; tapering gooseneck spout set below one escutcheon; applied circular foot.

Decoration: Body and lid covered by black opaque ground. Lid decoration by concentric gilded borders: a) rope border; b) adjacent half-ovals with attached pendents; c) husks and fan-like elements rising from interlocking lunettes; d) adjacent solid lunettes with inter-spersed pellets. Body decorated on either side with well-executed paintings of flowers and fruits, including stawberries and roses (primary colors: red, pink and white); areas on either side of paintings occupied by gilded stylized floral/foliate decoration; indecipherable gilded border just below rim of body; gilded foliated cartouches around escutcheons and where spout connects to body; gilded flora/foliate decoration on spout. Inside of body and lid tinned.

Label TextBrightly painted or japanned accessories became increasingly more plentiful from the mid-eighteenth century onward. Emulating more expensive enamels and the colorful glazes and decoration on stylish earthenwares and furniture, these objects were intended mainly for the middle-class market.ProvenanceVendor:Rupert Gentle, Milton England