Teapot
Josiah Wedgwood (Burslem, Staffs. 1730 – Etruria, Staffs. 1795)
Category
Ceramics
Date
1762 - 1765
Materials
Earthenware
Measurements
120 x 210 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Treasurer's House, North Yorkshire
NT 592375
Summary
Teapot and sauce or cream boat, white salt-glazed stoneware, Staffordshire, ca 1762; each moulded with variations of the 'landskip' pattern showing a country house with grazing animals and a river at the lower edge, repeated on both sides, with overglaze enamels in pink, blue, yellow, green and brown, the cover with a knop in the form of a sheep.
Full description
Frank Green (1861-1954) gave Treasurer’s House to the National Trust in 1930. His gift included some important ceramics, though some of the pieces shown in the house today were added by the National Trust from the 1970s to 1990s. The display of British pottery in the Dining Room, which includes these 'landskip' pattern objects, is part of Frank Green’s original collection. They are made from a type of ceramic called white salt-glazed stoneware, which was first developed in Britain to emulate fashionable, expensive Chinese porcelain. Pipe clay from Devon or Dorset was often used to make it, which was mixed with sand or calcined (heated) and crushed flint. The preparation of these materials could cause serious health problems for workers, particularly if they were breathed in. White salt-glaze was fired at a high temperature (about 1200°C). A large amount of salt was added when the kiln was at its hottest, after about forty hours of firing. The salt was poured into holes at the top of the kiln using an iron ladle, repeated regularly over the course of about six hours. The intense heat caused the salt to split into its component parts – a potentially harmful chlorine gas and sodium oxide. The sodium reacted with the surface of the pots, coating them with a fine layer of glass – a salt-glaze. The smooth, pale surface could be left undecorated but was also a brilliant canvas for coloured enamels or gilding. The teapot is decorated with a grand country house, surrounded by grazing sheep and cows, and a stream with swans along its bottom edge. The knop on the cover is in the form of a sheep. The pattern is often referred to as ‘landskip’ (landscape). Two block (master) moulds for this teapot are in the collection of the Wedgwood Museum. The blocks are for two sizes of teapot, the smaller size having a slightly compressed version of the design. Moulds for the teapot cover and the matching sauce or cream boat are also known to survive. The attribution of wares with so-called 'landskip' moulded decoration has been the subject of much debate. Archives record an order placed with Wedgwood in May 1762 for ‘5 dozen Landskips in Sizes’ for £1.0.0. An invoice dating to January 1764, from potter and mould-maker William Greatbatch to Josiah Wedgwood, possibly for moulds, lists a "Landskip Tpt, Saus Bt., Cream Bt. & Sugr. Box’, for which he received a payment of £1.7.0. A connection between Greatbatch’s invoice and the two moulds at the Wedgwood museum was made by the ceramic historian, Charles Luxmoore. This has led to Greatbatch often being described as the source of these moulds, despite the lack of definitive evidence. No excavated sherds from the Greatbatch site match the known objects or moulds, so there is certainly no evidence that Greatbatch made teapots in this pattern. ‘Landskip’ pattern sherds have been found at a number of different factory sites in Staffordshire, include Thomas Whieldon’s factory at Fenton Vivian, suggesting that Wedgwood was not the only potter using the moulds. Sherds from teapots and sugar bowls showing variations of this pattern have also been found in excavations of the Isleworth Pottery in London. The ‘landskip’ pattern is most often found in white salt-glazed stoneware and lead-glazed earthenware. Examples in red stoneware are relatively rare (see Winterthur, 71. 191a, b). The Duchess of Bedford (Woburn) bought a pair of ‘Green Landskip Cups’ in 1760 from the china dealer, Thomas Turnee
Provenance
Given by Frank Green (1861-1954) along with house, garden and contents to the National Trust in 1930
Makers and roles
Josiah Wedgwood (Burslem, Staffs. 1730 – Etruria, Staffs. 1795), manufacturer William Greatbatch (1735 - 1813)