Tea Caddy
1780-1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Wooden tea caddies have the greatest variety of decoration. They were popular from about 1780 to 1810. Most were square, oval or octagonal in shape. Often made in satinwood, harewood light coloured mahogany or walnut they were usually painted and occasionally combined with applied prints or engravings
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Painted wood |
| Brief description | Hexagonal, painted tea caddy. Painted with flowers and a with an oval print of figure holding a garland on the front.. |
| Physical description | Tea caddy, hexagonal, of white wood painted with sprays and bunches of flowers in colours; on the top and front are oval prints representing female figures. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Thomas Sutton, Esq., in memory of his wife |
| Object history | This tea caddy was part of a large gift of tea caddies given by the collector Thomas Sutton in 1919. [R.P. 19/3782]. |
| Historical context | Tea leaves were expensive, so were usually stored in lockable containers. Early tea containers were referred to as canisters, kept in locked boxes known as tea chests. Smaller wooden boxes with one or two fixed inner compartments for loose tea became popular from about 1780 onwards and by 1800 were generally known as tea caddies. The word 'caddy' is thought to derive from the Malay word for a measure of weight (kati ) equivalent to about half a kilogram |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Wooden tea caddies have the greatest variety of decoration. They were popular from about 1780 to 1810. Most were square, oval or octagonal in shape. Often made in satinwood, harewood light coloured mahogany or walnut they were usually painted and occasionally combined with applied prints or engravings |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.82:1-1919 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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