Be still, and drink from a teapot

Originally published 9/6/16

I must confess: whilst in England I fear I have purchased an embarrassing number of teapots and cups and saucers. I mean, more than one person logically needs to have - or can logistically carry home on a plane. Teapots and cups and saucers and high tea are the main reasons I was excited to come to the motherland of tea, so it was budgeted and expected to purchase china. I have been a little underwhelmed, however, at the availability of high tea experiences, and surprised at the supremacy of coffee. Coffee has overtaken tea in the British beverage oeuvre. I will drink the coffee. The lattes are divine, and I may not be able to return to Starbucks for a bit. Sorry, Starbucks App. But I will not give up the opportunity to have tea served to me in a teapot.

Silver teapot, left, at Patisserie Valerie, Cambridge. Proper high tea.

After lunch tea, white ceramic, center, at Cafe Rouge, in Canterbury, with our friend Martin Darby. We know him from Greenville, but he's English.

Green stump pot, center, at Burghley house, Stamford.

Green stump teapot, center, Patisserie Valerie, Cambridge

Silver teapot, right, Orchard Tea Garden, Grantchester

And, as you will notice, many of my teapots are accompanied by scones. But I think that's another topic entirely.

We also stumbled upon a teapot exhibit at the Norwich Castle, of all places. Rows and rows and rows and rows of teapots.

My admiration for teapots reached its pinnacle when, on Friday, we visited the Wedgwood factory near Stoke-on-Trent. Very little porcelain is produced in Britain anymore; it, along with most other manufactured items, has moved east, to China and other Asian provinces.

But Wedgwood maintains a factory in northern England, which, if you stop there, you can tour, have tea and buy teapots.

Left, Jasperware in production.

The factory was not firing when we were there; they were on their annual holiday, but there were a few craftsmen working, and we were able to walk through the factory and their extensive museum. Wedgwood is known for its Jasperware, a non-porcelain finish (feels like rough clay) whose color is embedded rather than painted, and is covered with silhouette-like reliefs. The most well-known color is blue. I don't have a picture of it, because you weren't really supposed to be taking pictures in the factory. Ooops.

We also saw artists actually painting the porcelain china. The biscuit (raw clay) piece is fired to give it the non-porous familiar porcelain glaze, then a pattern is baked on. Then an artist hand paints the details.

At right, she is painting the gold onto these pieces. And that is real gold paint. I think this teapot sold for 1000 pounds in the store.

No wonder they cost so much. I have a new appreciation, beyond my initial appreciation, for the craftsmanship. But I also appreciate the factory store next door, if you know what I mean. We were able to get some prizes there, and some of the patterns were ones (not the 1000-pound one) that we saw being painted while we were in the factory. I will sip carefully from those when drinking tea at home.

The house that I am about to build will be great, for our God is greater than other gods. 6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? 7 So now send me an artisan skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to join the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided. 2 Chronicles 2: 5-7

Solomon built a house to glory of God, to worship him and offer sacrifice, and many artisans came to do it. Many of the churches here are adorned in gold and silver still, much more so than in the states. Some of the teapots, like the one above that I didn't buy, are adorned in gold. Many are not, but are hand-painted beautifully, nonetheless, and I think, are a testament to the beauty in this world that God has provided, both in their decoration, and in the thirst they quench, and the deliberateness in which hot tea demands to be consumed.

A beautiful teapot, to me, is time to slow down, take in the beauty and rest in the stillness of hot tea cooling until it can be sipped. To share it with a scone, and with a friend. To spend time, and be in the presence of others, or just watch the world as God has created it for us. Maybe it's not the teapot, but what the teapot stands for.

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10