Description
This teapot with a polished surface shows an imperial poem in gold on one side and a landscape on the other. The poem in archaic seal script was composed by the Qianlong emperor on his third southern inspection tour in 1762, when he traveled to southern China to solidify his rule. The base bears a stamped seal of its maker. Yixing potters produced teapots primarily for Ming dynasty literati-officials who valued simplicity and restraint, until the early Qing emperors introduced them at court.
Provenance
(Ms. Charlotte Horstmann, Ltd., Kowloon, Hong Kong, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1980); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1980–)
Accession Number
1980.27.a
Medium
Stoneware, with gold pigment, Yixing ware
Dimensions
Diameter: 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in.); with spout: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)
Classification
Ceramic
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
