British Teapots and Tea Drinking - Hardcover

Tea drinking became a British passion about 1700. This book charts the rise of the great national habit, and shows how and why an exotic luxury came to become part of the staple diet. The growing market for teaware stimulated the beginning of porcelain manufacture in Britain and the glamour of porcelain encouraged potters to refine their own products, creating in north Staffordshire an industry that dominated the western world. The 563 teapots described and illustrated here range in date from 1720 to 1850. They are drawn from the Twining Teapot Gallery at Norwich Castle Museum, which houses the greatest specialist collection of British ceramic teapots in the world. They cover the whole range of pottery and porcelain in production during this period and the text includes the result of much recent research which has led to changes in attribution. The drawings of moulded details will prove paticularly useful for making identifications.