DesignPac Inc Hand-Painted Cream Stoneware Teapot with Cobalt Collar, Blue Flowers and Red Buds

The DesignPac Inc blue flower stoneware teapot is a round, squat, cream-glazed teapot with a wide body, a straight upright collar around the opening, a loop handle and a long, gently curved spout. Its glaze is cream, a warm off-white with tiny dark specks, glossy over a heavy stoneware body. Both the collar and the lid trim are blue, a deep cobalt blue, and the body carries a hand-painted band of flowers.

Body: a painted vine circles the lower half of the pot. It has large flowers in blue, a cobalt to periwinkle blue, painted as loose cup shapes with white dots in their centers, small buds in red, a deep rose red, shaped like little tulips or hearts, and pointed leaves in green, a dark sage green, all linked by a thin blue stem line. The brushwork is loose and visible. Collar and lid: the upright collar is painted solid cobalt with a thin cream edge. Above it, the domed lid has a cobalt band at its rim and a flat round knob painted cobalt on top with visible circular brush marks.

Inside: a removable cream ceramic infuser cup sits in the opening. It has a round flange that rests on the rim, a D-shaped well with a small pinched lip on one side, and a single round drain hole in its floor. Underneath the pot, the base has a dry, unglazed foot area and a glazed shallow center. Hand-lettered in blue near the edge of the base is DESIGNPAC INC in uneven capitals, with made In china underneath in hand-lettered lower case with a capital I.

On this copy: there is a small chip at the tip of the spout. Brown and gray staining marks the unglazed base ring. The infuser rim has blue paint smudges and a few rust-colored specks, and the inside of the pot has dark specks in the glaze. Size was not measured; it is a full-size pot, roughly a 4 to 6 cup teapot by eye.

• Form: Round squat teapot with lid and removable infuser cup
• Body: Cream glazed stoneware with tiny dark specks
• Colors: Cream, a warm speckled off-white; blue, a deep cobalt trim and periwinkle flowers; red, a deep rose red buds; green, a dark sage green leaves
• Decoration: Hand-painted vine of blue cup-shaped flowers, red buds and green leaves around the lower body
• Collar: Upright collar painted solid cobalt
• Lid: Domed, cobalt rim band, flat cobalt-painted knob
• Infuser: Cream ceramic cup with a round flange, D-shaped well and one center drain hole
• Mark: DESIGNPAC INC / made In china, hand-lettered in blue on the base
• This copy: Small chip at the spout tip, stained unglazed base, paint smudges on the infuser; not measured