Professor Katharine Burnett gave a talk for Professor An-yi Pan’s seminar “Object, Ritual and Tea” in the History of Art and Visual Studies Department at Cornell University on Monday, Feb. 26. Her talk, “What is a teapot? (And what isn’t?)” examines the ubiquitous object but aknowledges the teapot was not always so singular and common. According to Burnett, evidence indicates that teapots were developed in the early Ming, when the fashion for tea consumption was changed by imperial dictate. Up to that time, the prevalent mode of tea service was based on a decoction mixing milled cakes of tea leaves with water in large bowls. A new dictate necessitated a different tool to decoct the new type of brew. Enter the teapot. But where did the teapot come from? Did it enter the stage ex nihilo? Or did it adapt earlier forms for this new use?  What would those have been? Burnett’s talk explored how the teapot’s stylistic heritage explained its requisite form, and examined some important early models from major kiln sites, and then showed its adoption and adaptation in locales outside of China.