A ROYAL WORCESTER 'AESTHETIC' TEAPOT AND COVER

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A ROYAL WORCESTER 'AESTHETIC' TEAPOT AND COVER
PUCE PRINTED MARK FOR 1882, REGISTRATION MARK FOR DECEMBER 25, 1881, POTTING CODE FOR 1882

One side modelled as a youth truncated at the waist, the other side as a maiden, their arms forming the handle and spout, inscribed on the underside 'Fearful consequences through the law of Natural Selection and Evolution of living up to one's Teapot', Jacobs Collection no. 574 --6in. (15.2cm.) high

Lot Essay

Cf. Henry Sandon, Royal Worcester Porcelain from 1862 to the Present Day, pl. 100; also Henry Sandon, Coffee Pots and Teapots for the Collector, New York 1973, plate 149

The inscription on the bottom of the present teapot and its amusing form are a direct reference to the Aesthetic Movement of Oscar Wilde and to Gilbert and Sullivan's satire of it, 'Patience', which was first performed in London in 1881.

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