tea

shelf 4

Tea plants are expensive to produce: they must grow for three years before they are ready for harvest, and even then only the top inch or two of the plant is picked. The costly nature of this commodity is seen in the especially small scale of teapots made in the 1700s (the size of which increased in the 1800s) and the use of tea caddies designed for secure and proper storage.

 

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A pentagonal pewter tea caddy with floral decorations.

Chinese

Tea Caddy, 1800s

Pewter

Bequest of John F. Street 40.017.16

A sculptural agateware teapot, with a sculptural fin handle, shell shaped body, decorative spout, and animal sculpted finial for the lid. It is blue, brown, and cream in color.

English

Agateware Teapot, ca. 1745

Varicolored earthenware with glaze

Gift and Bequest from the Collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller 2017.74.24ab

An angular transfer-printed earthenware teapot with white, black, yellow, green, and blue decorations.

English

Teapot, 1800s

Earthenware with transfer print and glaze

Gift of Miss Alice Brownell, Mrs. Ernst R. Behrend and Alfred S. Brownell 29.232

A ceramic cup and saucer that is white, brown, and green in color.

English

Tortoiseshell Ware Tea Bowl and Saucer, ca. 1750–1765

Earthenware with glaze

Bequest of Mr. Charles L. Pendleton 04.227

Vessel in the shape of a white squirrel with brown patches and a blue ribbon arounds its neck. It holds a brown nut with green leaves up to its face.

Johann Joachim Kändler, modeler, German, 1706–1775

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory, German, 1710–present

Teapot, 1735–1737

Porcelain with enamels, glaze, and gilding

Gift of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich 37.090.2