Christopher Dresser
(1834-1904)

Dresser was an extremely influential English writer on the decorative arts who was also a well-regarded designer. Unlike Ruskin and Morris, Dresser fully understood and accepted the implications of mechanized production and stressed the importance of design rather than craftsmanship.

Dresser began his career studying at the School of Design in London and then going on to be a botanical draughtsman. He made his name, firstly, as a botanist studying the geometry of plant structure and he published several books and articles on botany. He was eventually awarded a doctorate by the University of Jena in 1860, but failed to obtain the chair of botany at University College that same year. It was perhaps this event that caused Dresser to turn his attention back to the decorative arts.

In 1857-8, Dresser published a series of articles on botany as adapted to the arts and art manufacturers. In 1862 he published The Art of Decorative Design and The Development of Ornamental Design, which was a critical guide to the International Exhibition. The Exhibition piqued his interest in the artists of Japan and in 1877 he traveled there in a semi-official capacity to collect Japanese objects on behalf of Tiffany.

In 1878 he formed a partnership with Charles Holmes and the two began importing Japanese and other oriental wares into England. In 1882 he published an account of the arts in Japan.

It seems almost impossible that Dresser could have accomplished so much in so few years- but he was also a carpet designer for Brinton & Lewis, art manager of the Art Furnishers’ Alliance 1880-83, and provided designs for a wie range of household articles including wallpaper, furniture, metalwork, pottery, glass and textiles. In 1879-82 he acted as the art director of Linthorpe Pottery, where he was responsible for the design of numerous vessels, some derived from Japan others from Peru. His most interesting designs were for silver, many of which reveal a concern for function and an austere liking for undecorated, simple geometrical forms which were far in advance of the time and seem to anticipate Bauhaus design.

There’s even more news on this teapot from the appraiser, Bill Kime:

“I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing when the Christopher Dresser diamond hole teapot appeared in Sherbrooke... what magnificent design! I knew of a similar one that had been seen on the market a couple of years ago, but what I didn't know was that that same teapot had ultimately found its way into the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, where it was thought to be the only example of its type - a proto-type for a pot that was believed to have been simply too labour-intensive and expensive for production... and now we've found another one!

It's very hard to put a value on something like this with any certainty, but in the light the research that I've been able to do since the recording, even though there are now two pots where there was previously thought to be only one, I think this wonderful little silver plated teapot could be worth as much as ten times the figure I put on it in Sherbrooke... that would put us at about $250,000... I really don't think that's overdoing it!

To stumble over anything by Christopher Dresser would've been cause enough for excitement, but finding this teapot, which had arrived under such improbable circumstances, was every bit as much of a thrill for me as it clearly was for its owner... even the thrill of my career - so far, that is!”

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