A group of five Chinese enamelled Yixing teapots

The group comprises: two similar small teapots, one decorated with precious objects, the other with flowers and butterflies, each stamped with a seal mark; a large square-section teapot decorated with the Laughing Twins (hehe erxian), lotus, and prunus flowers, the base is stamped with a ‘Yixing Zisha minghu’ mark, the underside of the cover is stamped with the maker’s mark ‘Yuan Ting’; a cylindrical teapot decorated with a bamboo-shaped handle and spout and chrysanthemum to the body, the base stamped ‘Weng Weiyun zhi’; a cylindrical teapot with a straight spout decorated with auspicious attributes, the flat cover is surmounted by a finial with two loose rings, the base is stamped with a floral mark and the underside of the cover with a stamped pictorial mark.

Provenance: The largest teapot: with Newbridge Antiques, Wolverhampton, 15 September 1965, no. 8487 (one of two).