This cylindrical teapot has a rather unusual shape - a square handle and an angular spout. This was probably inspired by a pewter prototype. Tea leaves, rather than powdered tea, were used in China to brew tea from about the 13th century onwards. This led to the invention of teapots. When tea was introduced into Europe in the 17th century, teapots from China became popular export wares, and were closely copied by European potters.Dehua, located on the southeast coast of Fujian province, is well known for its production of white porcelain, known to Europeans as 'blanc de Chine'. The earliest Dehua porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century but the production and quality of these porcelain peaked around the 17th and 18th centuries.
