Teapot and cover
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1750
Materials
porcelain, overglaze black enamel and gold
Place of origin
Jingdezhen
Order this imageCollection
Wallington, Northumberland
NT 581764
Summary
Teapot and cover, porcelain, of globular form, made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, China, c. 1750; decorated in black enamel monochrome or 'en grisailles' and gold, painted with a roundel depicting two men, one has a beard and the other is younger, and surrounded by three hogs with domestic buildings in the distance, perhaps the biblical story of the Prodigal Son as a swineherder, around the shoulders and cover is a rococo foliate scrollwork and diaper band.
Full description
The monochrome black or grey/gray painting on this teapot is known as "Grisailles" ware, "Encre-de-Chine" and also sometimes "Jesuit" ware, the last a reference to Jesuits who may have supplied the print sources that were copied in this technique to suggest engravings or etchings, heightened with gold. A coffee cup in the Victoria and Albert Museum (C.63-1957) with the same scene is identified (errouneously?) as Tobias and the Angel, while the print source is the same, the border is slightly different so they are not from the same tea and coffee service.
Provenance
Gift from Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan 3rd Bt