This is a highly collectable and rare piece of antique Scottish pottery.
It dates to around the 1920s and is hand-painted with a very attractive pattern of white and lime green prunus blossoms set against a bright Royal blue background.
It is marked to the base Mak Merry - and also to the underside of the lid.
It is in good antique condition.
Condition: a very unusual shape with a couple of minro condition flaws. These are hardly noticeable when the pot is on display - but I will point these out to you for your inspection. I have taken lots of images - and any condition issues have been photographed in close-up.
There is a very slight underglaze crazing - which you often find on these pieces - but only noticeable on careful close-up inspection - and it is commensurate with the age and nature of the piece. The most obvious area of craquelure is on the base near the signature on the base.
CONDITION ISSUES: there are two issues to take into consideration. a/ a very fine hairline crack - which is confined to the glaze on the top of the lid, this does not go all the way through. There is also an issue with the spout. I am not sure if there has been a restored hairline here - I have run my teeth over the spout tip - and it seems there is no in-fills or restoration - but there seems to be some difference in the paint tone below - I am not sure if this is just in the paintwork - or there is restoration. But it is certainly minor in nature - and I have again taken lots of images for inspection.
The handle is fine with no issues - and I love the whiplash shape and the wee ceramic curls top and bottom of the handle areas where it joins the body of the pot. The handle has never been broken off the post, there is no staining inside, and the knop on the lid is intact and NOT glued back on.
My gorgeous little Scottish pottery teapot is 4 inches in height and the diameter at the widest point is 5 1/4 inches. From spout to handle the pot is 8 inches.
It is nice and clean inside.
This little teapot is certainly a special piece for the collector of Scottish pottery - and it can be considered a bit of a museum piece. Indeed, there is one very close to this design on display in the Museum of Edinburgh on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
My price for this little pot is certainly a fair one - and the postage quote is for next-day special delivery postage with the Royal Mail - so that it is fully insured in transit to you.
HISTORY: The MakMerry pottery grew out of the Scottish Women's Rural Institute, which was founded in 1917 in the Scottish town Macmerry by Catherine Blair.
Catherine had previously been an active Suffragist, campaigning for 'Votes for Women' and had a history of promoting female independence and equality. She became involved in the suffragette movement was by writing countless letters to the press about the plight of women.
In 1920 MakMerry was set up as the trading arm of the Institute. Initially, members invested small sums of money and produced food items for sale – but they soon moved into producing fine craftworks as well – one of the crafts was pottery decoration. They hand-painted smaller household items such as plates, shallow bowls, lidded pots and the sweetest teapots – and all these are instantly identifiable and often featured delicate and stylized floral patterns.
Today pieces of MakMerry pottery are highly collectable and special pieces like the little teapots do not come up for sale often and when they do they tend to fetch higher prices. They often appear in prestigious auction houses such as Bonhams.
These wee Scottish art pottery teapots - especially ones with such a delicate and intricate handle are now very hard to find. I have priced this one with both the rarity and the condition issues taken into account. The price here would have to be a firm one on this item. It would be £195 with no discounts applied.
It would be sent to you in the UK only with Royal Mail Special Next Day Delivery with the Royal Mail, tracked and traced. This will be £10 and applied at check-out stage.