Commenting is deactivated.

Please post all new topics and queries to the
Discussion Forum

18th c chinese export tea pot

by Stan
(Milwaukie OR.)

Hi Peter, New to my collection is this Chinese Export tea pot, It is 6" high to the top of the lid and 9-1/2" wide from the spout to the handle, I was told that it is 18th century from the qing dynasty , the porcelain is a very high quality and very thin, easy to see light through it, there are no marks, can you tell by these photo's if it is real, it looks real to me and it is all hand painted, and a lot of the gold has worn off, I will send you 2 more sets of photo's thanks, from Stan.

Comments for 18th c chinese export tea pot

Click here to add your own comments

decoration added
by: stan

I looked on ebay to see if I could find a tea pot like mine and I found two, both say that theirs is late 18th century, however, the on the one the blue and white decoration are clearly late 19th century, I have some blue and white vases that have the same decoration, so that makes sense that the decoration was added later, both tea pots on ebay have more deceration than this one and there are some age signs but not many it is almost in perfect shape with very little age signs, it is hand turned and the handle and spout were added latter, thank you for your expert opinion, also with this piece came a matching creamer, there is also a chocolate pot, I am thinking of going back and buying the chocolate pot it has a hair line crack, but it looks like a stress crack to me. thanks again, from Stan.
teapot
by: peter

Hi Stan,
There you got me!
Export teapots are something I don't know enough about. For that reason I just give you my observations.
Lid shape - I don't know this lid shape in pre-20th century Chinese teapots. It wasn't that way on teapots made for use in China. But, I have seen it on the Internet on export porcelain.It may well have been made to order that way for western style teapots.
Gilt - looks like the brighter version of gilt in these pictures. If it is, then it is likely that the gilt was painted on in Europe. Chinese gilt did not yet have that bright shine in the 18th century.
Holes to spout - there are seven holes where the spout is attached to the pot. I didn't know that there are any pots with that many. Could also have been made to order, but not sure.

Spout holes can be used for approximate dating with Chinese style teapots. Either export porcelain was special, or that rule isn't very reliable.

With Chinese style teapots there was usually only one hole. Late in the Qing dynasty, there seem to occasionally have been two or even three, but that seems to be an exception. The regular use of multiple holes did only start in the early 20th century.

Overall, the teapot looks indeed as if it were 18th century.
These pictures don't show this, but you can check this yourself. If you look at the bottom at an angle, the glaze should be either smooth or it can have signs of burst bubbles. Little globular holes of the part of the burst bubbles remain in the glaze (no other age signs, usually).
That is typical for 18th century.
Personally I think it could as well be that the white glazed body was epxported, and the color decoration added in Europe.

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Ask a Question or Contribute - archived.

Chinese Export 18th century tea pot

by stan
(milwaukie OR.)

Hi Peter, here is more photo's of the tea pot, thanks.

Click here to post comments

Return to Ask a Question or Contribute - archived.

Chinese Export 18th century tea pot

by Stan
(Milwaukie OR.)

Hi Peter, here is the last set, I hope this set of photo's is good for evaluation, Thanks again and let me know it you need anything else, talk to you soon, thanks from Stan.

Click here to post comments

Return to Ask a Question or Contribute - archived.


search by keyword