Yixing teapots from the second half of the 17th century are plentiful in European collections of the Baroque period, those from the first half are very much rarer and were the first to be exported in small quantities to Europe.
The finely potted body with rich patination is characteristic of the late Ming Yixing teapots. Patrice Valfré illustrates two other early teapots with similar oviform bodies and hemispherical finials which also have the remains of European silver mounts. Valfré also illustrates another unmounted example with the seal mark of the potter Xu Youquan, who was a pupil of the master potter Shi Dabin[i], which he dates to 1575- 1625 and a silver-mounted teapot of the related ‘Dragon’s egg’ form which he dates to 1550-1625[ii].
A similar mounted teapot from the Arthur Harris Collection[iii]
The interior of the teapot with the vertical seam
In the 2015 Chinese version of Patrice Valfré’s, Yixing: Teapots for Europe, (available online at Academia) he includes a section on ‘how to identify a Ming Teapot’[iv]. Valfré points out the unusual and characteristic feature of a vertical seam in the interior wall of Ming Yixing teapots which is clearly visible in our example.
The silver mount on the cover and the chain attaching it to the handle date from the 17th century and are likely to have been added in The Netherlands or England. The silver spout is English and dates from the mid 18th century.
Condition:
The spout a silver replacement, three trefoil silver lappets on the cover lacking
References:
Valfré 2000
Patrice Valfré, Yixing: Teapots for Europe, (Paris, 2000)
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[i] Valfré 2000, p. 165 no. 5 & 6.
[ii] Valfré 2000, p. 162 & 164 no. 1 & 4.
[iii] Woolley and Wallis, 15 November 2011, lot 128.
[iv] Valfré 2015 pp. 143- 147.
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