Tea-Caddy

Tea-Caddy

Object name: Tea-Caddy
Date: 1790
Medium: Japanned tin
Object number: C01859
DescriptionTea-caddy of painted japanned tin. It has a pattern painted on the front in red, white green and yellow on a blue ground. It depicts a semi-circular structure on four legs, under a red and white arbour. Tea was an important part of domestic life in England in the 1700s and 1800s and there was a major international trade in tea via companies such as the East India Company. Tea-caddies such as this would have been a decorative as well as practical item and, in the early years of the trade, tea, like sugar, was regarded as a precious commodity.