Antique Silver Teapot, Kashmir, India

Silver Teapot

This beautiful teapot combines several of the patterns typical of 19th century Kashmiri silver work. The spout is chased with the ‘rosette’ pattern and the body with elements of the ‘poppy’ pattern and ‘chinar’ pattern. The handle is in the form of a snake.

The hinged lid is heavily repoussed and chased with chinar leaves and seed pods and surmounted by a leafy finial. The pot sits on a slightly flayed square foot that has been chased with repeated leaf motifs within beaded borders. The interior has been coated with a gold wash.

The most striking aspect of this teapot apart from the unusual wasted body is the unusually deep chasing over the entire surface giving the relief work a far greater ‘3-D’ effect than typically seen in such a piece.