Christopher Dresser
Teapot
Christopher Dresser
Glasgow 1834 – Mulhouse, Alsace, 1904
Teapot
About 1879
Silver-plated nickel silver, ebony
16.9 x 25.1 x 5.4 cm
Produced by James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield, England
Purchase, Movable Cultural Property grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, the Museum Campaign 1988-1993 and Deirdre Stevenson Funds, inv. 2011.35
Decorative Arts and Design
This teapot is striking for its severely geometrical shape and minimal ornamentation inspired by Japanese design. Christopher Dresser travelled to Japan in 1876–77 and became a strong advocate of Japonisme, a French term for the West’s borrowings from Japanese art and design, particularly in the nineteenth century, after Japan was forced to reopen for trade in 1853 by the United States. The teapot’s simple design, appealing to the contemporary eye, was too radical for the ornate Victorian era, and perhaps why it was never put into full-scale production.
