A Royal Crown Derby bone china teapot designed by Salvador D...

Hammer

£1,900

A Royal Crown Derby bone china teapot designed by Salvador Dali, circa 1939, the body painted in enamels with a design depicting pink gloved hands and trailing foliage against a dark blue ground, with gilt highlights, the cover with oval finial, printed factory marks, 'ROYAL CROWN DERBY' and 'MADE IN ENGLAND', date code 'II' for 1939.
Notes: the original teapot from which this is copied is held in the V&A Collections; it was part of a unique tea service commissioned from Royal Crown Derby by the poet, artist and patron of Surrealism, Edward James, for his extraordinary Surrealist house Monkton. In 1936 Salvador Dali stayed with Edward James at his London home, where they developed a number of ideas for surrealist objects and furniture. In a previously unknown correspondence between Edward James and the decorating firm, Green and Abbott from 1938, the 'pink glove tea set' is mentioned in the same context as the famous torso chest of drawers, the lobster telephone and the Mae West Lips sofa, all of which are known to have been conceived by Dali. It is highly likely that Green & Abbott also adapted an original motif by Dali and supplied it to the manufactory for use on a standard porcelain service. [credit to collections.vam.ac.uk]

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Some damage - damage on inside rim, the finial of the cover has been broken and glued on, and there is a chip on the rim of the cover.