Hot-water kettle

This kettle was most likely for pouring hot water into teapots. The double twist branch-shaped handles that terminate in stylized leaves, and the molded female mask under the spout, are characteristic of ceramics made by the Leeds Pottery. Leeds was known for its production of creamware, which is a particular type of earthenware also called Queen's ware because the creamy color was greatly admired by Queen Charlotte. The blending of naturalism and asymmetry were hallmarks of the rococo style, which was popular in England and America into the late 18th century, as seen in many object on view in this case. An interest in the geometric ideals of neoclassicism, which followed the rococo, is conveyed here in the striped banding of manganese slip or colored liquid clay.