Title
Teapot
Creator
Made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Manufactory, Worcester, England
Date
1882
Label
#172
Teapot
Made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Manufactory, Worcester, England, 1882
Made of Bone China
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
2019.29.1
With a woman on one side and a man on the other, this teapot satirizes the aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 80s, Oscar Wilde, Darwin's theory of evolution and changing gender roles.
The aesthetic movement stressed the aesthetic, rather than social or political, value of art as well as the pursuit of beauty and self-expression.The pot pokes fun at one aesthete in particular: the author Oscar Wilde. Wilde was gay, and many of the mannerisms depicted in the pot, especially the “crooked” wrist, are stereotypes associated with gay men. The androgenous, slightly “mannish” woman also reflects stereotypes associated with lesbians.
The inscription on the bottom of the pot, "Fearful consequences, through the laws of Natural Selection and Evolution, of living up to one's Teapot" reflects anxiety about the new theory of evolution and the fear that the aesthetes had "evolved" to the point of emasculation and androgyny, threatening the traditional family structure.
This piece is on display in the European Ceramics Gallery.
Teapot
Made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Manufactory, Worcester, England, 1882
Made of Bone China
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
2019.29.1
With a woman on one side and a man on the other, this teapot satirizes the aesthetic movement of the 1870s and 80s, Oscar Wilde, Darwin's theory of evolution and changing gender roles.
The aesthetic movement stressed the aesthetic, rather than social or political, value of art as well as the pursuit of beauty and self-expression.The pot pokes fun at one aesthete in particular: the author Oscar Wilde. Wilde was gay, and many of the mannerisms depicted in the pot, especially the “crooked” wrist, are stereotypes associated with gay men. The androgenous, slightly “mannish” woman also reflects stereotypes associated with lesbians.
The inscription on the bottom of the pot, "Fearful consequences, through the laws of Natural Selection and Evolution, of living up to one's Teapot" reflects anxiety about the new theory of evolution and the fear that the aesthetes had "evolved" to the point of emasculation and androgyny, threatening the traditional family structure.
This piece is on display in the European Ceramics Gallery.
Credit Line
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by W. Groke Mickey
Citation
Made by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Manufactory, Worcester, England, “Teapot,” Museums at Washington and Lee University: Online Exhibits, accessed May 17, 2024, https://exhibits-museums.omeka.wlu.edu/items/show/279.