Two views of the John Bartlam factory teapot sold for £460,000 at Woolley & Wallis. One side pictures two cranes beneath a tall palm tree and figures in a sampan, while to the reverse is a bespoke version of the Man on the Bridge pattern.
Rod Jellicoe told ATG he had approached the Metropolitan Museum of Art with an eye to purchasing the Bartlam teapot when news of its discovery filtered out in December. “I knew it was a gap in their collection – they have several pieces of Bonnin and Morris but no Bartlam – and it really was the best place for it to go. We discussed it over a number of weeks and finally came up with a number.”