Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 138, The Harry and Carol Djanogly Gallery

Tea Canister and Cover

ca. 1778-1786 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Tea began to be imported into Britain from the middle of the 17th century and its spread was bolstered by the transatlantic slave trade which saw it gain popularity as a luxury item until import duties were abolished in 1784. A fashionable and social drink, during the 18th century it was prepared in front of guests. English tea drinkers differed from their Chinese counterparts by preferring to drink tea hot and with milk and sugar, the latter becoming increasingly available through West Indies sugar plantations which relied on the exploited labour of enslaved African people.

The transfer-printed design on one side of the canister shows a well-dressed couple drinking tea in a garden, attended by a young black male servant, who pours hot water from a kettle into a teapot. At least 10,000 people of the African diaspora are estimated to have been living in 18th century England, most working as enslaved people used as exoticised motifs as domestic servants for elite families. For their affluent owners these people of the African diaspora were othered and aestheticised, presented as homogenous status symbols who offered ‘exotic associations’ like the new beverage and product of slavery, tea.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Tea Canister
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Lead-glazed earthenware, with transfer-printed decoration
Brief description
Tea canister and cover, probably made by Neale & Co., Staffordshire, ca. 1778-1786
Physical description
Tea canister in creamware (lead-glazed earthenware), transfer-printed in red enamel with a couple seated in a garden and being served tea by a black servant on one side, and with a shepherd with his flock on the other.
Dimensions
  • Height: 5.125in
  • Width: 3in
Taken from accessions register
Marks and inscriptions
Production
Some Neale creamwares have transfer-prints by Thomas Rothwell, who may have been the source of the prints on this canister.
Subject depicted
Summary
Tea began to be imported into Britain from the middle of the 17th century and its spread was bolstered by the transatlantic slave trade which saw it gain popularity as a luxury item until import duties were abolished in 1784. A fashionable and social drink, during the 18th century it was prepared in front of guests. English tea drinkers differed from their Chinese counterparts by preferring to drink tea hot and with milk and sugar, the latter becoming increasingly available through West Indies sugar plantations which relied on the exploited labour of enslaved African people.

The transfer-printed design on one side of the canister shows a well-dressed couple drinking tea in a garden, attended by a young black male servant, who pours hot water from a kettle into a teapot. At least 10,000 people of the African diaspora are estimated to have been living in 18th century England, most working as enslaved people used as exoticised motifs as domestic servants for elite families. For their affluent owners these people of the African diaspora were othered and aestheticised, presented as homogenous status symbols who offered ‘exotic associations’ like the new beverage and product of slavery, tea.
Collection
Accession number
1402&A-1874

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Record createdJune 1, 2006
Record URL
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