Teapot with Heraldic Badge of the Prince of Wales

Wedgwood factory, Staffordshire, England. 1810s

Black Basalt ware.

Height: 24 cm, base measures 12.5 by 9.5 cm

Entered the State Historical Museum collection in 1925 from the Museum of Old Moscow.

This elaborately shaped teapot is decorated with rich relief-work. The middle of the body features oak boughs with acorns. Above these, a laurel wreath encircles the Prince of Wales’s feathers – the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales. The spout is in the form of a lion’s head, with the handle in the shape of a dolphin. Just as the lion is king among beasts, in the heraldic sense, the dolphin was considered the king of fishes. The decoration shows Britain’s special status as an empire and a seafaring nation. The top of the lid is shaped like St. Edward’s Crown – the centrepiece of the British regalia, used to crown new monarchs.