Eccentric Teapot

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!"

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

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. (800) 755-0403. I haven't seen the teapot in the catalog recently, so I don't know if it's still available.