Tea-Caddy

Date1790

MediumJapanned tin

ClassificationsCulinary Equipment

Terms

Object numberC01859

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.

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