Teatime!
- willa
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
The newly unpacked items of the Murray Pollinger Collection are proving to be very popular... this Saturday, it's teatime,
Teapots have of course always been at the core of any porcelain collection. But these large bulbous items were difficult to produce in the unpredictable 18th and 19thC kilns, which were fired with coal fires that were extremely hard to control. Therefore, each factory made few designs and updated them as little as possible. Once a design worked well, any well-thinking potter would hold onto it as long as possible.
Enter Samuel Alcock, who had at some point the largest factory of The Potteries, employing no less than 700 people. As firing techniques improved over time and Alcock pumped huge sums of money into his factory, it started to become possible to produce many more designs that quickly followed one another.
There was another reason why this became important; as the Industrial Revolution took off and the British middle class kept growing larger, there were more households that could afford porcelain tea services. Of course they all wanted to show off that they had the latest models, so competition grew and potters had to keep designing new shapes.
I found lots and lots of teapots in the Murray Pollinger Collection of Samuel Alcock, some of which have already been sold. But currently I am unpacking more, and I am not nearly done! Today, I want to give you a good selection of Samuel Alcock teapots and some of the items that came with them. We have wonderful shapes here: the rare "half orange" shape, the French shape with its gracious Rococo Revival moulding, the dramatic "writhen" shape with its high curls, and the slightly plump pear shape, so very popular in the 1840s. Have a look and see if you need something to upgrade your tea parties!
Where to find things
You can find the full Murray Pollinger Collection here, and you can find all my available stock here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend everyone!
Teaware this week:
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