Teapot (a) and saucer (b)

This small pot has a squat, globular body, eared handle, and straight spout; the lower portion of the vessel is fluted and rests on full-relief budding branches. Three holes are at the base of the spout on the inside; these were intended to strain tea. The shallow-sided saucer is also fluted and rests on full-relief budding branches. Both pieces are decorated with a floral pattern in overglaze enamels that include a watery pink, bright green, pale blue, and lime green against a black ground. In addition, the saucer has a thick, bright yellow and a watery turquoise enamel; there is also some enameling-on-enamels.(1) The fluting and the relief decoration do not match on the two objects; the enamels differ, and the designs vary slightly as well. Although originally catalogued as a set, these two porcelains do not belong together.

Catalogue entry from Suzanne G. Valenstein. The Robert Collection. Decorative Arts, Volume XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 338.

NOTE:
1. This technique of painting enamel designs on top of other enamels probably began in the late eighteenth century.

J. Pierpont Morgan, New York.