Yixing (Redware) Teapot

With Foo Dog Finial

Here we are, my teapot and I, sitting pretty in the Chinese Zodiac’s Year of the Dog exhibit in the Side Gallery of The Maridon Museum. We add a sense of stability and history to this new temporary exhibit. I have been resting on this brocaded ball since the early 18th Century, and I traveled all the way from Guangdong Province, China.

Did you know that Foo Dogs were based on the Tu lion that guarded the original Buddhist temples in India? And, I’m told, that Pekinese dogs were bred to look like Foo Dogs? See the resemblance? Sitting on this teapot is like having my own throne.

My teapot was made for export, and this is the type of ware that became the model for Johann Bottger of Germany. This was the first red ware Bottger produced in 1706 at his Meissen factory and was subsidized by Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Augustus’ collection provided the impetus for the royal heads of Europe to collect and sponsor the making of artistic porcelain. Please visit us and our companions in this special exhibit.