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Hexagonal tea caddy (originally called Canister)

Photo: Susan Dirk

Hexagonal tea caddy (originally called Canister)

ca. 1710-13

A German physicist, Count von Tschirnhaus (1651–1708), and an alchemist, Johann Böttger (1682–1719), became the two key players during the final stages of the European quest for true porcelain. Their experiments produced a dense, high-fired red stoneware—steps toward the porcelain formula they soon devised.
Böttger stoneware with black glaze
5 1/2 x 2 7/8 in. (14 x 7.3 cm)
1 11/16 in. (4.29 cm), diameter
Gift of Martha and Henry Isaacson
69.177
Provenance: Collection of Mr and Mrs Henry and Martha Isaacson, unknown purchase date until December 1969; gift from Mr and Mrs Henry and Martha Isaacson to Seattle Art Museum, Washington, 1969
Photo: Susan Dirk
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Media

Image Coming Soon
SAM's Porcelain Room

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Porcelain Stories From China To Europe", February 17 - May 7, 2000 (2/17 - 5/7/2000)
Published ReferencesFroula, Christina. "Proust's China," in Modernism / modernity, Vol. 19, no. 2, April 2012, pp. 227-254, illus. p. 235, fig. 4

Emerson, Julie. "Coffee, Tea and Chocolate Wares in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, no. 2, p. 14

Emerson, Julie, Jennifer Chen, & Mimi Gardner Gates. "Porcelain Stories From China To Europe." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2000, pp. 30-31

Qian, Zhaoming (ed.). Modernism and the Orient. New Orleans: University of New Orleans Press, 2012; p. 83, reproduced fig. 4.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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