{"product_id":"johnson-brothers-the-friendly-village-teapot-body-sugar-maples-scene-with-basketweave-spout-lid-absent-england-1953-onward","title":"Johnson Brothers “The Friendly Village” Teapot Body, Sugar Maples Scene with Basketweave Spout, Lid Absent, England, 1953 Onward","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe body of a \u003cstrong\u003eJohnson Brothers teapot\u003c\/strong\u003e in the pattern \u003cstrong\u003e“The Friendly Village”\u003c\/strong\u003e, offered \u003cstrong\u003ewithout its lid\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe form is a full round belly on a turned foot, the rim shaped and scalloped with a \u003cstrong\u003eseat moulded inside it for a lid that is not present\u003c\/strong\u003e. That seat is the reason the piece reads oddly: it is a teapot, not a vase, and the missing lid is why the opening looks wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003espout is moulded as basketwork\u003c\/strong\u003e — a lattice of raised cane running its whole length, left in the white — and the \u003cstrong\u003ehandle is moulded as a branch of leaves\u003c\/strong\u003e, each leaf outlined in brown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround the body runs the \u003cstrong\u003eSugar Maples\u003c\/strong\u003e scene: bare winter trees in sepia over a pale blue sky, a red barn and outbuildings, snow on the ground, a fence line. Around the rim, a brown scrollwork and foliage border.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe glaze is \u003cstrong\u003ecrazed across the whole piece\u003c\/strong\u003e, a fine net that has taken up colour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe base carries the mailbox mark: \u003cstrong\u003eSUGAR MAPLES\u003c\/strong\u003e over \u003cem\u003eTHE FRIENDLY VILLAGE\u003c\/em\u003e on a mailbox, \u003cstrong\u003eMADE IN ENGLAND BY JOHNSON BROS, REG. US PAT. OFF.\u003c\/strong\u003e, with two red painted dots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“The Friendly Village” was introduced in 1953 and it became one of the most-produced English transferware patterns ever made.\u003c\/strong\u003e Twelve different American scenes across the range — the Ice House, the Covered Bridge, the School House, the Village Green, Sugar Maples and the rest — so that a table set with it was a set of twelve small landscapes rather than one repeated view. It stayed in production for decades and it furnished an enormous number of American Thanksgiving tables.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSugar Maples is the sap-gathering scene\u003c\/strong\u003e: buckets hung on the trunks in late winter, the barn behind, snow still on the ground. It is the most seasonal image in the range and the one people go looking for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJohnson Brothers was founded in 1883\u003c\/strong\u003e by Alfred and Frederick Johnson at the Charles Street Works in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and built its business on the American export trade — Robert Johnson moved to New York in 1898 to run it directly. The firm joined the Wedgwood Group in \u003cstrong\u003e1968\u003c\/strong\u003e, production moved to China in 2003, and English manufacture ended after Fiskars acquired Wedgwood in 2015.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe moulded spout and handle are the quality tell.\u003c\/strong\u003e Basketwork cane running the full length of a spout, and a handle formed as a leafy branch, are separate mould work on a piece that could have had a plain tube and a plain loop. They are also the first things to break, which is why intact ones matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe crazing is age in the glaze, not a fault in the making.\u003c\/strong\u003e Glaze and body move at different rates over decades of heat and cooling, and the glaze opens in a fine net that then takes up colour from whatever the pot has held. On a teapot, that is tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt is offered as a decorative piece, and the lid is stated plainly as absent.\u003c\/strong\u003e Dated \u003cstrong\u003e1953 onward\u003c\/strong\u003e on the pattern's introduction and the Made in England mailbox mark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTeapot body in Johnson Brothers “The Friendly Village”, Sugar Maples scene, \u003cstrong\u003esold without its lid\u003c\/strong\u003e and offered as a decorative piece or vase. Approx. 5½ in high and 9 in across the spout and handle.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eJohnson Brothers, Stoke-on-Trent, England\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eRound body on a turned foot with a shaped scalloped rim and an internal lid seat; spout moulded as basketwork cane; handle moulded as a leafy branch\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMulticolour transfer of the Sugar Maples winter scene — bare trees, red barn, snow and fence line over a pale blue sky — with a brown scroll and foliage border at the rim\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGlazed earthenware, transfer-printed and enamelled\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePrinted mailbox mark to the base: SUGAR MAPLES, THE FRIENDLY VILLAGE, MADE IN ENGLAND BY JOHNSON BROS, REG. US PAT. OFF., with two red painted dots\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003e1953 onward. Dated on the introduction of the pattern and the Made in England mailbox backstamp.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGood, with one stated absence. \u003cstrong\u003eThe lid is missing and is not included.\u003c\/strong\u003e The body itself is sound — no chips to the rim, spout or foot, no cracks, no repairs and no restoration; the basketwork spout and the leaf handle are complete and undamaged, and the printed scene is strong and unfaded. \u003cstrong\u003eThe glaze is crazed throughout and the crazing has taken up colour\u003c\/strong\u003e, which is age in an old glaze rather than damage. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA teapot without its lid stops being a teapot and becomes a very good vase, and it costs a fraction of what a complete one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe proportions are the reason it works. A wide belly, a narrow opening and a foot that keeps it stable is the shape florists reach for — it holds a generous bunch without the stems splaying, and the spout and handle break the outline so it never looks like a plain jug. Fill it with anything short and full: hydrangea, ranunculus, garden roses, dried grasses, holly and pine at Christmas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is also a small winter picture you can put on a shelf. The Sugar Maples scene is sap-gathering season — bare trees, buckets, a red barn, snow — and on a kitchen shelf or a dresser from November onward it does more seasonal work than most decorations, because it is an object you already own rather than something that comes out of a box.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe moulded details are what people notice up close. The spout is woven cane, the handle is a branch with leaves, and both are the kind of thing a factory only bothers with on a pattern it expects to sell for thirty years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it is easy to add to. “The Friendly Village” is one of the most widely produced English patterns ever made, so the plates, cups and serving pieces are findable and affordable — a lidless teapot is a good way into a pattern rather than a dead end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and the first point is the important one. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not use it for food or drink.\u003c\/strong\u003e A crazed glaze is an open network that holds moisture and bacteria no washing reaches, and mid-century glazes can carry lead. Flowers with a liner, dry display, decorative use only.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not soak it and never put it in a dishwasher.\u003c\/strong\u003e Water travels into the crazing and takes staining with it, which is how a lightly crazed piece becomes a heavily stained one. Wipe with a barely damp cloth and dry it at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor fresh flowers, stand a glass jar inside rather than filling the body directly, and lift it by the belly rather than the spout or the handle — on a teapot those are always the weak points, and on this one they are the parts worth protecting.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047024210025,"sku":"VE-0736","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/910F69EB-37D3-4F32-B897-1CA398B1327C.jpg?v=1789273682","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/johnson-brothers-the-friendly-village-teapot-body-sugar-maples-scene-with-basketweave-spout-lid-absent-england-1953-onward","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}