Furnival presents an inviting vision of the exotic east in the decoration of this brown transfer "Mikado" teapot. There is no doubt that the rustic pavilion, decorated with lanterns and overlooking a bamboo grove is located in Japan. The designer, however, has employed a European, rather than Japanese, style and perspective that must have made the tea drinker feel that she could be comfortable sitting on that veranda, enjoying fragrant tropical breezes.

The complex border is a mixture of Japanese ground patterns, Japanese circular crests, and reserves framing images of fan leaves.

The unusual shape of the teapot relates more to vases of the period than to the typical low oval pot forms.The curves of the finial and spout recall the lines of some Asian architectural elements.

The would-be aesthete would have had a number of choices for the all-important teapot--perhaps a fine piece of Chinese or Japanese porcelain, perhaps a piece of antique European silver, or--and maybe this was more in the realm of the middle class--a new English pot that played with popular Japanese motifs. Oddly enough, it is those "Japanesque" British pots that most clearly represent the Aesthetic Movement for today's collector.