Courtesy Ironbridge Gorge Museums

The Coalport Teapot Exhibition will take place from April 30 until November 2 2007 at the Coalport China Museum, near Ironbridge, Shropshire.

Providing visitors with detailed insights into the tea drinking culture in Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries the exhibition highlights how Coalport China was at the forefront of this.

On offer will be a varied selection of teapots of all shapes and sizes displaying the full range of patterns used on Coalport porcelain in the early 19th century.

Courtesy Ironbridge Gorge Museums

There will be examples by pioneering brothers, John and Thomas Rose, who founded the Coalport China Works industry in the 1790s, as well as a selection from other major porcelain factories such as Caughley and Worcestershire.

The Coalport China Museum stands on the site of the former Coalport China Works, which occupied the site from 1796 to 1926 and became one of the leading producers of British porcelain at the time, acquiring a reputation for high quality decoration and skill.

The eclectic china displayed in the exhibition will provide visitors with the chance to compare a range of styles that were influential in the innovative designs of Coalport products. The exhibition will also explore how the increasing affordability and popularity of tea among the middle classes created a demand for more stylised and attractive china.

Courtesy Ironbridge Gorge Museums

Reproductions of early 19th century paintings showing tea-drinking will also be displayed together with images from early Coalport pattern books and a table showing the different pieces of a tea service and how they would have been authentically laid out.

There will also be a chance to interact with some of the items on display in order to get the full Coalport China experience.