CHRISTOPHER DRESSER (1834-1904)
TEA KETTLE & COVER
Auction: 19 April 2005 at 13:00 BST
Description
designed circa 1880, manufactured by Benham & Froud Ltd., copper and brass
Dimensions
21cm high
Footnote
EXHIBITED:
'Christopher Dresser: Un designer alla corte della regina Victoria', Palazzo della Triennale, Milan, 30 October 2001-March 2002
'Christopher Dresser and Japan', Koriyama City Museum of Art, Japan, 13 April - 19 May 2002, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, 25 May - 30 June 2002, Takaoko City Museum of Art, Toyama, 11 July - 1 September 2002, Utsunomiya Museum of Art, Tochigi, 17 November - 23 December 2002
'The Shock of the Old: Christopher Dresser', Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, 5 March - 25 July 2004
'Christopher Dresser 1834-1904: A Design Revolution', The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 9 September - 5 December 2004
LITERATURE:
'Christopher Dresser 1834-1904', Michael Whiteway, 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
'Christopher Dresser: A Design Revolution', ed. Michael Whiteway, V & A Publications, London, 2004, plate 236
NOTE:
This tea kettle was probably produced by Benham and Froud for the Art Furnishers Alliance for which Dresser was the 'Art Manager'. The design of the kettle was influenced by Dressers 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'
For a similar example, in patinated iron, see Sotheby's, 20th Century Decorative Arts and Design, London, 19th October 2000, Lot 52