£3,000
Auction: Design Since 1860
copper and brass, with riveted decoration and pierced scrollwork base, stamped maker's mark to base
Literature: Whiteway, M. Christopher Dresser 1834-1904, Skira Editore S.p.A., Milan, 2001, plate 174
Christopher Dresser and Japan, ed. Koriyama City Museum of Art Brain Trust, 'Christopher Dresser and Japan' Catalogue Committee, Japan, 2002, plate 150
Whiteway M. ed Christopher Dresser: A Design Revolution, V & A Publications, London, 2004, plate 236
Note: This tea kettle was probably produced by Benham & Froud for the Art Furnishers Alliance for which Dresser was the 'Art Manager'. The design of the kettle was influenced by Dresser's admiration of Japanese metalwork, evident in the exposed rivet decoration, the distinctive handle and the cut out 'cloud' base.
In his book of 1882 'Japan, its Architecture and Art Manufactures' Dresser wrote; 'No people but the Japanese have understood the value of colour in metal compositions….we have never fully realised the fact that by producing metal alloys, and combining these with pure metals, a world of colour is open to us'
In 1873 after visiting the Vienna Exhibition he wrote' while the kettle is an object of use in every house in the land, we have to go to Japan to learn how to make one as it should be'