Teapot with polychrome decoration of the type known as the "Saxon motif"; it presents a white-paste body free from noticeable impurities and tin-glazing. The spout is short, the handle hook-shaped.

The decoration, set within scrolls and arabesques, represents a putto in a pastoral background, appearing in the scenes depicted on either side of the body of the pot. The prototypes of these scenes can be found in eighteenth-century Venetian prints, although the renderings varied considerably and frequently reflected the personal sensibility and taste of the painter.

The "Saxon motif", on the other hand, was already mentioned in the lists drawn up in 1757 on the occasion of the death of Marquis Carlo Ginori, where reference is made to motifs "in the Saxon manner with gold", and also to "illustrated with figures in the Saxon manner with arabesques of gold"; this style was initiated by Angiolo Fiaschi around 1755, who sought to render the sketches Hoeroldt had executed for the painters of the Meissen Manufactory. (A.B.)