This bell-shaped teapot in early Eighteenth Century chinoiserie form, with gargoyle spout, is embellished in the eclectic old English or Medieval manner reflecting William Burges's inventive genius in the design of metalwork. With its falcon finial and hood-winked falcon spout, falcon ribbon-band, and a 'reclaiming-thread' handle, it appears to have been conceived as a rebus, 'armes parlantes' or 'canting heraldry' for a member of a family named Falconer.
Its design evolved from the celebrated 'British' tea-service (now partly displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and at the City Art Gallery, Birmingham), and which was originally exhibited by Messrs John Hardman & Co. of Birmingham at the London International Exhibition of 1862. The latter's related teapot with bowl imbricated, in the old French manner introduced by A.W.Pugin, is surmounted by the heraldic British lion. When Pugin died in 1852, his son-in-law John Hardman Powell (d.1895) took over control of the company's silver department, and employed Burges as a designer. But while reflecting Burges' originality, the embellishment of this tea-pot's ribbon-band reflects the old English style of engraving as portrayed in Strutt's, Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 1876. A likely patron for this teapot is C.J.Faulkner, as he retired from the firm of Messrs. Morris Marshall, Faulkner & Co, in the year of its manufacture.
A further link would appear to be provided by some of the Burges- designed chairs, which at one time belonged to Lucy, the sister of Charles Faulkner and are now in the Cecil Higgin's Art Gallery, Bedford (see J.Crook, William Burges, London 1981, plate 178)