A Chinese porcelain English-decorated teapot and cover 1st half 18th century

A Chinese porcelain English-decorated teapot and cover 1st half 18th century, with original underglaze blue decoration of a tall pine tree and flowering branches, later-decorated in red and gilt with a Chinaman standing beside a small tree and on a low bridge beneath which swans swim, a smiling sun above, peering out from behind a large shaped panel of flowers, the reverse with a half-rolled blind, a further figure looking up to the spout, a pseudo artemesia leaf mark to the base, the inside of the lid faintly inscribed 'Cheap', 16.5cm. (2)

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 372. Purchased from Geoffrey Waters, November 1994.

Illustrated: Helen Espir, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, p.217, pl.16. Also ECC Transactions, Vol. 19, Part I, Errol Manners, The English Decoration of Oriental Porcelain, p.18, pl.41.

Cf. Stephen Hanscombe, The Early James Giles and his Contemporary London Decorators, p.31, where he cites the 'smiley-faced' sun as a hallmark of early English decoration.