Julius Freed House: teapot collection article 2

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The Marketer Section, The Courier Chronicle, Wednesday, May 13, 1987 Humboldt, Tennessee ~~ 7C
Trenton's Inc:redible Teapots
TRENTON, Thnn. -- This small, through the translucent sides of the
rural city in western Tennessee is . pedestal producin~ a soft night-light
perhaps the only place in the world effect. As the idea of the ueillew;e
where city business is routinely con- caught the public favor, artisans
ducted in an art gallery. began producing more decorative
It is not that the city of Trenton versions designed as containers for
can not afford a municipal building. tea and other beverages.
It is more that the municipal Dr. Freed's collection at Trenton
building was also designed as an art stems primarily from the 19th cen­gallery,
and when Trenton's city tury when French ce ramists began
fathers meet to discuss the city's producing elaborately decorated
business, they do it amid the splen- ueilleuse-theieres which often con­dor
of several million dollars worth cealed the fact that they were sim-of
teapots. ply very functional teapots on a
Thapots? warming pedestal.
Well, Trenton, Tennessee, just A teapot spout in the Trenton col-happens
to be the location of what lection, for example, might be a bob­is
proudly proclaimed to be "The bin of yarn in the hand of a woman,
World's Largest Collection of an opening in the plumed hat of a
Thapots." handsome musketeer, the extended
We are not talking here about the arm of a soldier, or a pitcher in the
standard blue or gray enamelware hand of a goddess riding on the back
teapot, or the ceramic dime store of a leaping dolphin.
varie.ty with the painted flowers. There are classic scenes -- Romeo
The se teapots are truly works of art serenading Juliet on her balcony,
-- rare, beautiful and valuable 18th woodchoppers at work, ice skaters
and 19th century antique teapots warming themselves around a roar­properly
·called ueilleuses-theieres ing fire-- all done in exquisite detail
(pronounced uay-uhz tay-air), or and in brilliant color.
night-light teapots. In .. dditio.n to figt•-es some
The incredible collection of these ueilleuses were representations of
antique teapots on display in Tren- buildings. The Trenton collection in­ton
was a gift to the city from Dr. eludes cathedrals, castles and a
Frederick C. Freed, a professor of variety of houses.
gynecology at New York Universi-. There are examples of timeless
ty and a native of Trenton. Dr. Freed humor. One particularly intriguing
amassed his collection during 40 piece is a beautifully detailed oc­years
of searching antique shops tagonal two-story house. The ivy­around
the world. covered second f1oor forms the tea-
Dr. Freed originally planned to pot. At the front door of the warm­present
his collection of ~ore than ing pedestal base is the tiny figure
500 antique teapots to the of a woman helping her obviously
Metropolitan Museum of Art in inebriated husband into the house.
New York City. They came to the _ Square pedestals were often done
City of Trenton instead at the sug- in lithopane, a process whereby the
gestion of Dr. Freed's brother. thickness of the porcelain is varied
The idea of the ueilleuse was born so that light shining from within
i n the 18th century when ceramists reveals a detail ed scene in shades of
in Europe began producing a device light and dark.
for use in sickrooms and nurseries. Many of the ueilleuses in the Tren-
The ueilleuse started out as a sim- ton collection are the work of Jacob
pie, utilitarian warming dish set Petit, considered to be the greatest
atop a pedestal containing a shallow of the 19th century French
dish of oil. When the oil was lighted, ceramists. Petit originated the idea
thecontentsofthedishwereheated. of using human or animal "per­Artists
of the period were quick to sonages" to disguise the functional
notice that the flame also shone nature of his ueilleuses. The 537
. . ·::";/ . .;.• .,
teapots on display in Trenton in­clude
more than 130 eXamples of
Petit's work. Each is now conser­vatively
worth several·· thousand
dollars.
When Dr. Freed's magnificent gift
to his hometown began arriving in
specially built crates, the residents
of Trenton were astounded at the
tr~asure the city suddenly possess­ed.
The only place large enough to
display the incredible coliection was
the corridor of the local high school,
but when the City of Trenton built
its new Municipal Building, space
was intentionally built into the
city council room for the large,
custom-made glass cases designed
by Dr. Freed to house his priceless
collection.
Part of the charm of the Trenton
Thapot Collection is its small town
setting and the obvious pride the
city's residents have in their
priceless collection of antique
teapots. The collection, for example,
is the basis for an annualweek-long
"Teapot Festival" each year in
mid-May. '
Trenton (Pop. 4,600) is located ap­proximately
100 miles northeast of
Memphis and is about halfway be­tween
Jackson and Union City. ·
The teapot collection is open to
visitors without charge any time the
Municipal Building in downtown
Trenton is open. When the building
is closed, a small printed sign on the ·
front door directs visitors to the fire
station next door where a friendly
fireman will hand over a key to the
building with an invitation to "stay ·
as long as you like."
Such an extraordinary invitation,
not likely to be encountered at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York City, is typical of a small
west Tennessee town like Trenton.
For more information about "The
World's Largest Collection of
Teapots," contact the Thnnessee
Department of Tourist Develop.
ment, Room T, Box 23170,
Nashville, Thnnessee 37202.
-Don Wick-
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