Teapot 1782 - 1792

This teapot was made in Tournai, which is now part of Belgium, using a technique called faience. It’s a process where earthenware is coated with a glaze to make it look more like porcelain. The decoration, featuring a bird and some landscape elements, is painted directly onto this glaze. This requires a great deal of skill. The painter would need to know exactly how the colors will react in the kiln. Faience offered a more affordable alternative to true porcelain, but it also required intense labor. It was a product of a complex economic system, where the availability of materials, the skills of the workers, and the demands of the market all came together. Considering these factors helps us to look beyond the teapot's simple beauty, appreciating the full meaning of the object.