Tea Caddy – Bottger Meissen Red Ware

I stand a mere 3.75” high, but I am a most significant work of art from 1710. I am a very fine and rare example of Bottger redware, which was the earliest porcelain to have been manufactured in Europe. I inherited my name from Herr Johann Friedrich Bottger, who was head of the first royal Meissen factory established by Augustus, the elector of Saxony and the king of Poland. Bottger, a German alchemist, is generally credited with being the first European to discover the secret to creating hard-paste porcelain. Augustus’ love of Chinese and Japanese ceramics led him to have the first porcelain made in the Western world.

I have been polished to give me the look of jasper, and my form emulates Yixing ware from the Guandong Province in China. This Chinese ceramic was highly prized in the 17th and 18th Centuries in Europe.

Mary Hulton Phillips, the founder of The Maridon Museum, was an avid collector of German Meissen porcelain and Asian art. The museum represents both loves, and I rest in a special area referred to as the Transition Wall across from the entrance to The Meissen Gallery.