A TEAPOT created by one of the most influential designers of the Victorian era will go on sale in Edinburgh on Wednesday valued at around £15,000.
Hallmarked 1882, the silver teapot will be sold by Lyon & Turnbull during their decorative arts sale.
Born in Glasgow in 1834, Christopher Dresser became Britain’s first professional, independent, industrial designer. Unlike his contemporary William Morris, Dresser fully embraced new production techniques in colour, pattern, material and ornamentation and worked with innumerable manufacturers to produce objects which were well designed and available to many, including the tea pot.
John Mackie, director and decorative arts specialist at Lyon & Turnbull said: “This rare teapot is one of a group of remarkable designs that the pioneering Victorian designer Christopher Dresser produced for James Dixon & Sons of Sheffield from 1879 to1883.”
The teapot was presented by the 6th Duke of Portland, William Cavendish-Bentinck at Welbeck, one of the great landed estates in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, to Frank and Kathryn Hodgkinson on August 2, 1887.
The 6th Duke held a passion for thoroughbred horse racing and the Hodgkinsons were awarded the tea pot by the Duke for the best yearling filly. Kathryn was, in particular, known for her generosity to the staff she employed. Among them was George Maskery, a coachman who bred the horse mentioned in the engraving on the item, was given the teapot along with his wife, a maid, for their dedicated service to the Hodgkinsons.
Mackie added: “According to Dresser an object which perfectly fulfilled its function was beautiful in itself and needed no ornament and nowhere is this more apparent than in his metalwork.”
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