Derby coffee cup with groved handle.
Painted with a scale blue ground. the reserves painted with English flowers. Possibly made as a relacement.
c.1770
2 1/2 inch.

SOLD

10. New Hall globular teapot with flattened spur handle.
Painted in pattern 139
c. 1785-8 Ht.6 1/2 inches

A Very Rare and Important Porcelain Teapot c.1770-85
This attractive and well-potted teapot is skillfully painted with exotic birds and has fine gilding. The quality of the decoration suggests that it was made in a well established factory, employing good enamel painters and gilders. However, it is difficult to link this piece to any currently recognised group of porcelain. It is important, in that it potentially provides evidence for early porcelain production by an established pottery producer, such as Enoch Wood. Recent documentary evidence has shown his early interest in porcelain, including his employment of the painter Fidelle Duvivier. Another contender to have produced this delightful teapot is the enigmatic firm of Baddeley, Booth and Co, mentioned by Josiah Wedgwood in evidence to the House of Lords. This partnership has recently been plausibly identified, by Peter Roden, as a joint porcelain venture, set up about 1784, by four established Staffordshire potters, Hugh Booth, John Yates, Ephraim Chatterley and Ralph Baddeley.
The composition of the porcelain body of this fascinating teapot suggests that it is an early example of the “so called” hybrid-hard-paste type. This was the type of porcelain made by New Hall and a number of contemporaries, such as Keeling and Chamberlain’s Worcester. The analysis of the body of the teapot shows it to be mainly silica, 76.1%, and alumina, 19.9%. This is a classic hard-paste composition. However, the glaze of the teapot contains over 50% lead oxide. This combination of a hardpaste body with a lead glaze is characteristic of the porcelain produced by New Hall and other factories from about 1781. It used to be believed that the patent extension obtained by Richard Champion prevented anyone but New Hall from making hardpaste porcelain before 1796. It has become increasingly clear, however, that other factories were producing hybrid-hard-paste before the patent expired. The maker of this teapot is the most recent addition to the select group of potters pioneering this type of porcelain.
Ht. 3 3/4 inches
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I am very grateful to Professor Victor Owen and Dr Maurice Hillis for their help and advice.