Cardew Club News » unique teapots

Craft Alliance’s biennial teapot exhibition is one of the institution’s most popular events. This year, the show includes more than 80 clay teapots made by more than 60 potters.

The pots were chosen by master potter Fong Choo, who invited 20 artists and chose the rest from submissions. “I selected the works based on four criteria: strong form, great craftsmanship, skill in handling the medium and attention to detail,” Choo said. Potters from all over the country are featured.

In addition to being more or less functional — some of the pots might frustrate users — all the pots were required to fit within a 10-by-10-inch box.

Clearly, few objects are as widespread and recognizable as the teapot. From the traditional Japanese ritual tea ceremony known as “Chanoyu” to the modern-day childhood tea party, the teapot has played a central role in the history of tea drinking dating as far back as the 16th century, when the Chinese first created an unglazed teapot of brown or red stoneware for steeping tea leaves.
In 1610, Dutch importers brought tea to Europe, and along with it came the teapot, which at that time was relatively small and broad-based, having a spout and handle.

A Chinese teapot that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I has been sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than £1m.

The 10-inch porcelain teapot, decorated with songbirds and trees, was purchased by British-based antique dealers Littleton and Hennessy, on behalf of an overseas collector.

Auctioneers Sotheby’s said the teapot eventually went under the hammer for £1,079,000.

The teapot, which had been expected to fetch nearer £785,000, was given to a Chinese emperor during the Ming dynasty in the 1500s.

Alastair Gibson, of Sotheby’s, said: “It is a wonderful, exotic and historic piece which would have blown people’s minds.”

A teapot valued at £800 has sold for over £17,000 when it was sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries, despite having a broken handle.

The teapot is a Minton Majolica teapot and is in the shape of a vulture attacking a serpent. It was found in a house after the owner had passed away with the broken handle, which had been glued back on with household glue!

It was sold to a bidder who lives in the far east and who was bidding over the phone and it is expected that the bidder will have the teapot professionally restored.

Ballantyne Haines was anything but short and stout when she modelled as a teapot during the Exotica Wearable Flower Parade in Christchurch yesterday.

Haines was participating in the Exotica Wearable Flowers Parade at Christ Church Cathedral modelling a creation by fabric artist Jenny Gillies.

Hundreds of people packed the cathedral for the event, which is part of the Festival of Flowers organised by the Christchurch Garden City Trust.

The festival runs until February 18. Activities include guided garden walks, exhibitions, flower competitions, garden parties and performances.

PUMPKIN tea, anyone? Well, the choice of brew is entirely in the hands of the owners, but the distinctive prize-winning pumpkin shape of the teapot it comes in is drawn from the vivid imagination of crafts-woman Ruthanne Tudball.

Hand-made pots shaped by Ruthanne, of Welborne Common, near Mattishall, adorn tea tables and displays the world over: in Israel, Germany and France, her native US, Canada, and beyond.

Traditionally, teapots pour tea, but at a north Baltimore ceramic arts center they speak as well, telling stories of tradition, inspiration and, yes, passion.

The teapots are “talking” in a new exhibit, “100 Teapot III,” which opened Jan. 13 at Baltimore Clayworks in Mt. Washington. The exhibition, the third of its kind, showcases 100 teapots chosen from a pool of 670 entries from artists nationwide. The exhibit closes Feb. 21.

“I think that each of these pots, whether they are narrative or functional pots, tells the story of the artist and what people find beautiful,” said Forrest Snyder, exhibitions director for Baltimore Clayworks.