Teapots first arrived in England around 1700 from China. As the demand for tea and tea drinking grew many of the English pottery manufacturers started making teapots, these first teapots were initially copies from the Chinese ones. However in a short time England saw the flowering of the teapot form with many great names making them. Early makers included Thomas Whieldon, Josiah Wedgwood, and The Leeds Pottery all of who were making teapots by the mid seventeen hundreds.
By the 19th century the teapot had become integral part of British culture, with ever more variety being produced, from the humble Brown Betty to the most refined and elegant pieces by the likes of Worcester and Spode. Studio potters, delighted in making teapots, Bernard Leach was an early studio potter who made teapots, designing at least three different shapes as part of what was known as the Standard Ware Range of the Leach Pottery.
The teapot is a complex form, made as it is from four separate components, body, spout, handle and lid. The need to bring all these components together to form an harmonious whole, is a complex task requiring great skill and fine judgment.. This object [Teapot] for me is where a potter's art and skill is brutally exposed for all to see. Proportion and rightness for the purpose are important, and I am sure I don't need to go on about the mechanics of pouring, to say nothing about dripping. University papers have been written on the subject of why teapots pour well or badly.
Contemporary potters who make good teapots are thankfully many. Perhaps the best was Geoffrey Whiting, one must also include David Leach and Richard Batterham who in my humble opinion are not far behind.. On this page I hope to offer some fine examples by many different potters.
I can't guarantee that any of the teapots exhibited pour well, I will though say that all delight the eye and are fine teapots and that their makers got it right.
DB