Chinese Dragon Teapot

Belleek Pottery, founded in County Fermanagh in 1857, is considered Ireland’s foremost porcelain manufacturer. It was and still is most famous for its intricate basket-weave technique that closely resembles some weave patterns in Japanese karamono-style baskets. In Japanese, karamono means “Chinese-style object,” referring to Japan’s historic interest in and adoption of Chinese art. Porcelain manufacture was a fairly recent development in Europe, its production secrets having only been brought from China to Europe around 1700. While this teapot was the only Belleek design specifically advertised as “Chinese,” other designs of the time also reflected an interest in East Asia. Frequent bastardizations of Chinese and Japanese designs reflected Europeans’ fantasies of Asia, otherwise known as orientalism. -Written by Faith Walker