The Eccentric Teapot: Four Hundred Years of Invention

Rating:
Summary: The Eccentric Teapot is hilarious!
Review: For over 4,000 years tea drinking as been a social custom starting in China where elegant ceremonies have slowly evolved. The forms of the teapot have been endlessly imaginative; from humble to elegant; quirky to abstract. The designs of teapots have long flourished in both Eastern & Western cultures. This book celebrates some of the more sublime, outrageous & exotic teapots. Both comfortingly familiar & utterly peculiar, this fanciful, provocative & intriguing gallery includes portrait pots of Brooke Shields & Queen Elizabeth; teapots impersonate animals, vegetables & fruit. Teapots so far removed from steeping tea that they resemble drawings of themselves. Some pots are quite ugly! Still a hilarious & fascinating look at what artists have done to the humble teapot. END

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Summary: The bellhop teapot on the cover is available for sale.
Review: I purchased "The Eccentric Teapot : Four Hundred Years of Invention by Garth Clark for my wife who collects teapots. Her collection is limited to handmade signed-by-the-artist teapots and teapots of unique (you could call eccentric) designs. I gave her the book Christmas morning. Throughout the day she briefly skimmed the photographs and histories of truly unusual teapots. Then after dinner I gave her one more present that was "forgotten" in the morning unwrapping rush. She was DELIGHTED to see that I had given her an exact replica of the bellhop teapot pictured on the cover! What a great way to top an already impressive gift for the teapot collector! She now displays the book and teapot together. I bought the teapot from the CIRCA Catalog. [phone]. I haven't seen the teapot in the catalog recently, so I don't know if it's still available.

Rating:
Summary: Not a coffee table teapot book
Review: Not completely a picture book, the 136 photos are of teapots from various ages and artists. The text is the main part of this book, a well researched well written history of teapots and the tea ceremony/drinking tea traditions, written by a British person, with an emphasis on the actual production of the teapots. The author is an expert in ceramic art, and appreciates the subject from that perspective. A good number of the photos are of teapots made in 1970s and 80s, the very best of the lot being shown on the front cover and the first 4 pages of the book. Strength of the book is more in the text than the photos, but well done if you have any interest in drinking tea or collecting teapots, but not a coffee table style book with great photos that you just leave out to be admired for photos alone.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at the tradition of teapots!
Review: This is a fun picture book and an informative volume--as an art lover and a seller of YiXing teapots, I found all of the images inspirational. It's wonderful to see examples of people thinking "outside of the box!"

Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at the tradition of teapots!
Review: This is a fun picture book and an informative volume--as an art lover and a seller of YiXing teapots, I found all of the images inspirational. It's wonderful to see examples of people thinking "outside of the box!"