Teapot, earthenware with electroplated lid, canteen shape with indented base, decorated with birds and bamboo in low relief and painted in enamel colours; base, painted pattern number D 9963, factory mark impressed on body and registered design mark wit

Teapot, earthenware with electroplated lid, canteen shape with indented base, decorated with birds and bamboo in low relief and painted in enamel colours; base, painted pattern number D 9963, factory mark impressed on body and registered design mark with encoded date of 21st January 1874 impressed on a small clay pad, made by W T Copeland and Sons, Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, 1874+
the shape is inspired by Japanese metalware following influential exhibitions of Japanese art in Europe in the 1860s; a very similar shape of teapot was introduced by Wedgwood in 1878, under the name Satsuma, and by James Dixon and Sons for electroplated ware in the 1880s