coffee-pot
- Museum number
- Af1996,05.1.a-b
- Description
-
Wheel-thrown pottery coffee-pot (a) and lid (b). Long spout, wide loop handle. Glazed inside and out. Domed lid with pierced button on top. Internal filter on one side of pot to spout. Kiln-fired.
- Production date
- 1967-1973
- Dimensions
-
Height: 26 centimetres (a+b)
-
Height: 7.90 centimetres (b)
-
Width: 14.50 centimetres (a)
-
Width: 9.20 centimetres (b)
-
Depth: 26.50 centimetres (a)
-
Depth: 9.20 centimetres (b)
- Curator's comments
- The Pottery Training Centre at Abuja, Nigeria, was set up in 1951 by the British potter, Michael Cardew, at the request of the Nigerian government. The aim was to introduce new techniques and finishes to create tableware for an emerging middle class market. Trainees learnt to make wheel-thrown pots, they prepared and used slips and glazes and applied surface decoration; the pots were kiln-fired.
This collection was acquired in the period immediately after the retirement of Michael Cardew when Michael O'Brien (a former student of Cardew) ran the Pottery Training Centre as a commercial enterprise for the first time from 1965-1972.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Fair. Coffee-pot cracked through the neck from the rim at one side. The lid is chipped at the edge in one place.
- Acquisition date
- 1996
- Acquisition notes
- Af1996,05.1 to 10 is a single collection presented by Sir David Attenborough. He had purchased then at a Sotheby's sale, but the collection had been formed by Mrs S Marjorie Allen during 1967-1973 while her husband was Education Officer for Northern Nigeria. She acquired the pieces when visiting Abuja on holiday or on education trips, and the collection demonstrates the influence of Michael Cardew at the Abuja Training Centre.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Af1996,05.1.a-b
