Metropolitan Museum of Art, Blue & White Cranes Teapot
This classic teapot pays homage to a blue-and-white tile (ca. 1875) in The Met collection, painted with birds in flight flanked by decorative floral motifs.
Specifications
About the Blue & White Cranes Design
The tile was designed for Minton Ceramic Factory (British, 1793–present) by Christopher Dresser (British, 1834–1904), who served as a freelance artist and art advisor to the firm, although none of the pieces realized by Minton bear his signature. Guided by the philosophy that quality design requires not only a skilled artisan but a visionary artist, Dresser enjoyed a long career working as an ornamentalist; a lecturer in botany; and a designer of silver, glass, furniture, textile patterns, and ceramics.