A tea pot is a vessel with a lid, spout and handle used for brewing and serving tea. Antique examples are made in porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, silver, plated metals and pewter, and the form varies from small, round eighteenth-century pots to large oval and melon-shaped Victorian designs.
Teapots reached Europe from China in the seventeenth century with the tea trade, and early examples were often unglazed red stoneware from Yixing, which inspired imitations by Dutch, German and English potters. In England, salt-glazed stoneware, creamware, black basalt and porcelain teapots were produced in Staffordshire, Worcester, Derby and elsewhere, while silversmiths made bullet, pear, oval and drum shapes following changes in fashion. The Victorians added novelty teapots, majolica and the popular brown Rockingham glaze, and Christopher Dresser designed striking geometric metal teapots in the 1870s and 1880s. Collectors examine the lid, spout and handle for chips, cracks and repairs, since these are the most vulnerable parts, and check silver teapots for matching hallmarks on body and lid. Original finials and well-fitting lids are important, and a good teapot remains a functional object as well as an attractive one.
