Limited Edition Böttger Stoneware tea caddy with moulded flowering sprig

Jasper porcelain was the name Johann Friedrich Böttger gave to the reddish-brown material he produced at Meissen in 1706, less than two years before inventing white porcelain. It was an uncommonly hard, fine-pored, malleable body that could be ground and polished like a semi-precious stone. It came to be known as "fine red porcelain", though it is now referred to as Böttger Stoneware. It could be enhanced in a great many ways including with high manganese-content glazes in brown and black and intricate carved, lacquered or gilded decoration, and this soon enabled the young manufactory to surpass the faiences made in Holland, England and even China, the birthplace of porcelain. Silke Ebermann works in this tradition to embellish her caddy with fine relief moulding that accords with its shape. The front and back are each adorned with a tea blossom with a sprig of flowers, which have also been embellished with gold. As a special feature, the box is adorned with a white porcelain lid. Tea was a rare, extremely precious beverage when MEISSEN was established, the exclusive preserve of a select few. With this tea caddy, the manufactory recalls these eventful early years in many ways - the invention of the first reddish brown and then white porcelain and the introduction of the Far Eastern tea ceremony to European tableware and dining culture.