Tea began to be imported into Britain from the middle of the 17th century but remained 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 slaves.

‘The Tea Party’ engraving by Robert Hancock, which appears on one side of this tea pot, is one of the most popular designs to have been used on 18th century English ceramics. It 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.