Porcelain, Chinoiserie and Dance: The Teapot Prince comes to Oxford

Three panels of creative artists and academics discuss the porcelain ballet, The Teapot Prince, as part of its world tour as it stops at Waddesdon Manor (16 and 17 June) en route from New York to Naples, Brighton and Paris. 

Panel members: choreographer, Phil Chan, founder of Final Bow for Yellow Face; Meredith Martin, art historian and co-creator with Phil Chan, of The Teapot Prince; artist, Hannah Lim; poet and academic, Sarah Howe; ceramicist, Matt Smith; writer and ceramicist, Edmund de Waal; and art historian, Katie Scott. 

The Teapot Prince is based on an Orientalist fairy tale about a sorcerer who lives on a ‘Blue Island’ and transforms anyone who dares to trespass into porcelain cups, vases and other wares. When the sorcerer turns the eponymous prince into a teapot, his lover, the princess comes to his rescue…The original Ballet des Porcelaines can be seen as an allegory for the aggressive European desire to know and steal the secrets of Chinese porcelain manufacture. In the new version, the narrative is flipped. The main protagonists are now Chinese, the Sorcerer a mad European porcelain collector, modelled on Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733), King of Poland, elector of Saxony and founder of Meissen, the first European manufactory to succeed in making true porcelain.

For details of the performances, see https://waddesdon.org.uk/whats-on/the-teapot-prince/ 

All are welcome to attend the talks on 17 June in Worcester College, but please register here. 

Please contact Professor Kate Tunstall if you have any queries or questions about the event. 

Part of the Humanities Cultural Programme, one of the founding stones for the future Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.