A rare Böttger stoneware hexagonal teapot and... Lot 450

A rare Böttger stoneware hexagonal teapot and cover c.1710-15, the tapered hexagonal form moulded with a different flowering Oriental plant to each panel, glazed black to the interior, with ribbed handle and delicate faceted spout, 15cm across. (2) Provenance: from the collection of Lady Kate Davson, née Kate Foster (1938-2020). Cf. Sotheby's, 14th May 1998, lot 82 for a lacquered version of the same shape. The form is recorded in the inventory of the Meissen manufactory of 3rd August 1711, and nine such Böttger stoneware examples (hexagonal teapots with raised flowers) were recorded in the 1719 inventory of the Dresden warehouse, as well as two black-lacquered examples (Claus Boltz, Steinzeug und Porzellan der Böttgerperiode - Die Inventare und die Ostermesse des Jahres 1719, Keramos 167/168 (2000), p. 128, and one Böttger stoneware example was listed in J.F. Böttger's quarters following his death the same year. The 1770 inventory of the Japanese Palace records eight '6. paßigte TheéPotgen, mit erhabenen Blumen, Deckeln, Henckel und Schnautze, 4. Zoll hoch, 5. Zoll in Diam: No. 207' [six-sided teapots, with raised flowers, covers, handles and spouts, 4 zoll high, 5 zoll in diam.], though one was subsequently listed as missing (Claus Boltz, Japanisches Palais-Inventar 1770 und TurmzimmerInventar 1769, Keramos 153 (1996), p. 106). Ernst Zimmermann (Erfindung und Frühzeit des Meissner Porzellans (1908), p. 137) noted that the Dresden Collection included pieces such as the present lot that had cracked in the firing and been lined with a black glaze so that they would not leak, and that sometimes specks of glaze were also visible on the outside. Similar examples were sold from the Saxon Royal Collections, Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 7-8 October 1919, lot 5, and 12-14 October 1920, lot 72. A teapot of the same shape with lacquered and gilt decoration was sold by Sothebys London, 14 July 1998, lot 82.