Rare Chamberlain's Worcester Yellow Ground Oval Shanked
Teapot and Cover, Red and Gilt Decoration, Pattern 221, c1800
(p1131)
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An extremely rare yellow border Chamberlain Worcester shanked
oval teapot and cover, dating from c1800. Yellow is the rarest colour to find used
on early English porcelain due to the complex nature of the firing; it was
unstable and so almost impossible to produce. As such, yellow ground porcelains
were very expensive and sought after at the time and a rare item for collectors
to find today. Although this teapot does have a hairline crack round its base, it is
sufficiently rare to warrant being acceptable to the collector.
This very fine example is a delightful oval shaped teapot and
cover
with moulded spiral shanked decoration. The teapot cover
has the 'Chamberlain Warranted' mark and pattern number 'No221' in red and on
the base of the teapot is the pattern number '221' in red on the base. This
pattern number is listed in 'Chamberlain-Worcester Porcelain' by Geoffrey A.
Godden as 'Shanked yellow, red and gold bluebell border' taken from the original
list of Chamberlain patterns. This pattern is also illustrated in plate 114 of
the book in the form of a milk jug carrying this same pattern.
This charming teapot and cover is an excellent example of this rare
colour ground. The border round the top of the teapot's body and of the rim of
the cover has this rich canary yellow which has
applied decoration of red flowers between elegant garlands of gilt foliage. This
giving a very elegant and rich decoration. Unfortunately the gilding,
particularly on the cover has been worn away over the years, but traces are
visible.
The yellow borders are bounded on both sides by a gilt lines.
Around the shanked body of the teapot and on the cover are scattered red and gilt flower sprigs, in between which
are small single gilt leaves. This pattern is quite delightful.
The elegantly moulded shaped spout is embellished with more rich
honey coloured gilding, especially around the base of the spout and to the
front.
Balancing this elegant spout is an open looped handle with a
moulded scrolling leaf cap to it. This leaf is also embellished with gilt
decoration.
The cover has a typical flat oval mushroom shaped finial, this
having spiral mouldings to the top portion, these embellished with gilded lines,
which have again suffered from excessive wear, but traces are visible.
The teapot cover
has the 'Chamberlain Warranted' mark and pattern number 'No221' in red and on
the base of the teapot is the pattern number '221' in red on the base.
A most charming Chamberlain Worcester oval shanked Teapot
and Cover, having a very rare yellow, red & gold border, Pattern Number 221, c1800.
Size and Weight: (values are approximate)
Marks:
The teapot cover
has the 'Chamberlain Warranted' mark and pattern number 'No221' in red and on
the base of the teapot is the pattern number '221' in red on the base.
This charming and very rare yellow ground Chamberlain's Worcester teapot and
cover are generally in quite good condition for its age. However, it has
suffered from maybe being cleaned too much and as a consequence, much of the
gilding has been removed, this especially the case with the lid. There are still
traces of the gilt pattern on the covers yellow border, floral sprigs and
finial. the wear is not so severe on the teapot itself, but does still suffer
some wear.
The other imperfection is a hairline crack which runs round the base of the
teapot (as illustrated in the pictures above). This was probably caused by
boiling hot water being added to a cold teapot, causing it to crack - a common
fault with these early English teapots. there are also some very tiny frits to
the tip of spout , but these are minor.
Despite the imperfections, this remains a beautiful and very rare example of
a Chamberlain's Worcester yellow ground teapot for the connoisseur collector of
early English or Chamberlain's Worcester wares.
