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英国瓷场之乾隆外销瓷茶壶的鼻祖？

热度 9已有 3952 次阅读2020-10-18 12:24 |个人分类:古今收藏

2020-10-18

中国人喝茶，讲究品味茶叶的自然香味，所以自明朝朱元璋之后，茶壶以小为贵，每一位客人，执壶一把，任其自斟自饮，方为得趣。清朝早期尤其康熙年间出口西方的茶壶，还基本上还保留了这种风格。到了乾隆后期，外销瓷的茶壶才越做越大。

如下面这款生产于1778年，有着明显纪年标识的英国圆柱体茶壶，带一个长的直流和双螺旋茶壶柄，是英国茶壶的传统式样，到晚近都还有英国厂家在生产，大概也是乾隆时代同类造型的中国景德镇外销瓷茶壶的鼻祖。

Large (9" high) named and dated creamware teapot and cover, 1778, cylindrical form, with a straight tapering spout and overlapping twisted handle with molded foliate terminals, inscribed “John Parker. / Nettlebed. Oxfordshire. / 1778.” within an oval wreath and trellis border, on a pavilioned island ground, hairline to the reverse, small chips under cover, spout, and base. The teapot and cover were $9800 from Robert Walker of Polka Dot Antiques, Waccabuc, New York. Photo courtesy Polka Dot Antiques.

下面展示的这一套茶具，是美国开国总统乔治华盛顿在1786年购买并使用过的306件中国瓷器中的一部分。目前还有大约130件，收藏在美国卧龙山乔治华盛顿故居博物馆里。

Colorless feldspathic-glazed white porcelain (hard-paste) tea pot molded into a drum shape with an extruded strap handle of two entwined lengths and leaf-and-berry terminals. Decorated in hand-painted under glaze blue and over glaze polychrome enamels. Along the foot rim a thin band of joined circles, each containing a dot, followed a blue band. In the center of the wall is a polychrome enamel winged figure, representing "Fame," in a green robe and pink sash. The figure holds a trumpet in its right hand and the insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati in the left. The badge hangs from a knotted blue and white ribbon. On the top and bottom of the spout is a single flower and stem painted in blue; two additional blue foliate sprays flank the base of the spout on the teapot body. The exterior of the strap handle is embellished with two stemmed flowers in blue and their leaf-and-berry terminals are painted blue and gilded. Running along the shoulder of the tea pot is a border of gilded husk chain. Extending towards the lip is a variation of that is commonly called the Fitzhugh design - a border featuring a hexagonal diaper pattern with alternating butterflies and foliage. Above which is a blue band surmounted by a gilt band, followed by a border of hexagonal diaper pattern.

Colorless feldspathic-glazed white porcelain (hard-paste) molded into a flat top lid decorated with a molded strawberry finial and leaves. Along the edge of the lid is a thin band of joined circles, each containing a dot. It is surmounted by a blue line and a small scale Fitzhugh border that terminates in a gilded husk chain. The strawberry finial is painted blue and has evidence of gilding.

"If you should be in want of a new set of china it is in my power to procure a very genteel set, table & tea - what renders this china doubly valuable & handsome is the order of the eagle engraved on it in honor of the Cincinnati - it has upwards of 306 pieces and is offered at the prime cost, 150 dollars." - Col. "Light-Horse Harry" Lee to George Washington, July 3, 1786.

As the Revolutionary War drew to a close in spring 1783, French and American officers formed the Society of the Cincinnati in the name of mutual support and friendship. Titled after legendary fifth-century B.C.E. Roman farmer Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who left his plow to defend Rome and returned home following the conflict, the Society was open to all officers allied with the American cause and their descendants. George Washington, who like Cincinnatus resumed a private life of farming after the war, purchased an extensive Chinese export porcelain service decorated with the Society's insignia. Each piece features the winged figure of Fame, trumpeting and holding aloft the Society's emblem - a bald eagle with oval medallion containing a depiction of Cincinnatus' receiving the sword. Although Col. Lee estimated the service contained "upwards of 306 pieces," Washington's accounts record he acquired 302 pieces. Approximately 130 of these are known to exist. Mount Vernon's teapot is believed to be the sole extant example.

同时期景德镇烧制的外销瓷茶壶，主要有下面两种。第一种，面向欧洲市场：

美国大都会博物馆藏品，1790-1810年生产，面向英国市场。

A MASSIVE CHINESE FAMILLE ROSE PUNCH-POT AND COVER QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795) of globular form modelled with entwined berried strap handle and moulded spout, enamelled with a composite floral spray within a gilt and enamelled floral circular wreath and wavy floral pattern on the shoulder, repeated on the flat cover 12¾ in. (32.5 cm.).

第二种，面向北美市场的徽章瓷：

这一把茶壶，也是大都会博物馆的藏品，制造年代1770-1830年。

A CHINESE EXPORT AMERICAN EAGLE INITIALED TEAPOT AND COVER AND COFFEE-POT AND COVER, CIRCA 1800. Each enameled in sepia with an eagle bearing a shield with the initials WJB, the entwined strap handles with foliate terminals, berried finials, 9¾ in. (24.7 cm.) high, the coffee-pot.

一直的比较喜欢这种茶壶的直流和双螺旋把儿，直流继承了传统，中国唐代以降的茶壶，都是这种直流的风格。折叠成麻花一样的双螺旋把儿代表了创新，加强了壶柄的强度和承受力，使烧制的茶壶容量更大。可是这种创新，并不是最早的来自中国工匠，而是来自工业化革命之后生产力和创造力都高度发达的英国。

为什么这样说呢？下面是烧制于1776年的一个英国茶壶，现藏英国格林威治博物馆。这把茶壶，用的就是这双螺旋的壶把儿，加上圆滚滚的圆柱体的胖壶身儿，体现的是足足的大英帝国范儿：

Creamware teapot and cover, hand-painted on one side, with a three-masted vessel with red ensign and jack, three small boats in the sea. This ship painted on this teapot is the whaler ‘Polar Star’. On the other side an ornate coat of arms, painted in colours with stag supporters and stag's head crest, the motto 'LOVE AS BRETHREN' below. The pot is a cylindrical shape with double twist handles ending in flower and leaf terminals. It has a reeded spout and a coloured floral knop to the lid. The fact that whaling vessels were depicted on domestic items like this show how important whaling was to the British economy in the early 19th century. Whale oil and whalebone had numerous uses in British homes and factories.

下面是1775年，英国瓷器厂生产的一个团结友爱款茶壶，也是胖乎乎的圆柱体儿。它的这个直流，应该说是山寨的，可是山寨得很不错。

Rare English Staffordshire creamware teapot, circa 1775, probably by William Greatbatch, with gadrooned borders, the cylindrical body with polychrome lead glaze decoration with an entwined heart above the inscription ‘Love Unites Us’ surrounded by stylised garlands to one side and a house within a landscape setting to the other, the cover with a moulded bud finial surrounded by floral sprays, the applied strap handle of entwined form with flower leaf terminals; height: 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.)。 For a similar example see Deerfield Museum, Massachusetts, Acquisition No. 56.036. Other versions of this teapot have an inverse inscription of variously ‘true Love is pure and will endure’ and ‘When this you see/Remember me/tho many miles/we distant be’.

Leeds，England Teapot， Lead-glazed earthenware (creamware) and polychrome enamels，1756-1775 （芝加哥美术学院博物馆）

另外是下面这两款，时间又提早了5年，也是英国人做的。其中的第二款，被美国人送到景德镇当做新壶样本，从此以后出口到美洲新大陆的外销瓷，就成了能装一斤半茶水的巨无霸茶壶了。

This teapot was made in around 1770 by the English porcelain factory, Worcester, and was decorated by the notable china and enamel painter, James Giles，with a formal pattern of blue underglaze flowers and gilt details, including dental rims on the lid and neck. The rose finial was a distinguishing feature of the factory's teapots and coffee pots, while the less common entwined handle was applied to a variety of items, such as tureens and baskets. The teapot and cover were wheel-turned and moulded, and then fired. The surfaces were glazed, and the pieces were re-fired before blue on-glaze decoration was applied. After a third firing, gilt decoration was added, and the teapot and cover were fired for a fourth and final time. The piece is typical of Worcester wares of this period when the factory replaced its seemingly spontaneous decorations of fruit, birds and flowers with stylised floral patterns and gilded tracery. This change marked a new period for the company when it tried to compete more successfully for the sophisticated London market.

Teapot, probably Derbyshire, ca. 1770. Creamware. H. 6". (Courtesy, Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) An unusual green-glazed creamware teapot with the added embellishment of cold-gilding and the inscription “M. Wolfe”.

The latest, however, is a new and unusual shape for Chinese export teapots, its inspiration taken directly from an English cream ware model made probably in Derbyshire, about 1770, with a straight spout and an entwined-branch handle, common in English teapots of this date, and with molded reeding around the lower body. Almost certainly the English original was taken to China to be copied as a special order.

一个旁证，是英国最大的私人茶壶收藏家Philip Miller的英国茶壶编年史中，也有这样两把茶壶（1775-1780）：

1760/75， Staffordshire, England （芝加哥艺术学院博物馆）

下面这一款，把壶身的圆柱体和壶柄的双螺旋年代，推前了五年：

Teapot, probably Yorkshire or Staffordshire, ca. 1765. Creamware. H. 5 3/8". (Courtesy, Chipstone Foundation; photo, Gavin Ashworth.) Enameled in the so-called fossil pattern.

再下面这一款，是1760年的，大都会博物馆的藏品，把大英帝国壶身的圆柱体，又提早了五年：

再下面这两款英国茶壶，把双螺旋茶壶壶柄的历史，又向前推进了至少五年：

Teapot, Whieldon Factory, c. 1755, earthenware - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC02234.JPG。 Artist：Wedgwood, Josiah and Thomas Whieldon (English, 1730-1795) (English, 1719-1795) (collaborated 1754-1759)。

Staffordshire, England Teapot，Lead-glazed earthenware (creamware)，1745–1755（芝加哥美术学院博物馆）

然而在史密森尼学院博物馆里，有一把德国茶壶的双螺旋壶柄的设计，比英国茶壶还早30多年：

德国梅森茶壶（CE.68.174ab），1713-1720 - The twisted stem handle on this teapot connects with the applied sprays of roses wrapped around the vessel. This type of rose decoration (Rosen-Laub) was inspired by Japanese Imari porcelain imported by Dutch merchants during the seventeenth century. The Imari vessels were highly colored but the Meissen Manufactory had not yet found a way to produce durable enamels for application on porcelain.