Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Teapot and cover, reddish buff stoneware, partly slipped, and sprayed with blue-green pigment, salt-glazed. The teapot wheel-thrown, slightly compressed, on a flat base showing six pad marks, a rib at the bottom of the sides which taper to the shallow domed shoulders, vertical groove on each side, running from a small double circle motif, horizontally grooved and compressed spout, grooved strap handle curving from the spout back over the cover, which is a flattened stopper shape; the sides, the lower part of the spout, and the cover are slip-coated giving the salt-glaze a mottled blue-green appearance; elsewhere the glaze has crawled, producing a pronounced 'orange peel' effect.

Walter Keeler is one of the leading studio potters working in Britain. His work is highly individual and energetic, yet remains functional. Keeler’s early career was defined by his radical take on the traditional medium of salt-glazed stoneware. Departing from convention, he threw each part of his objects separately and assembled them to create distinctive and exciting forms, often influenced by mundane items such as oil cans and milk churns. Keeler has used these techniques with great skill on this striking 'Angular Teapot', reminiscent of a watering can and one of the designs that define his style. He has described such objects as 'a surprising object doing a commonplace job.'