Octagonal pressed tortoiseshell tea caddy

Octagonal pressed tortoiseshell tea caddy with unusual embossed architectural Gothic panels. The caddy has silver stringing to the top, with ivory banding and original ball feet and finial.

Tea was first introduced into England in the mid 17th century by the English East India Company and initially was only available to buy in liquid form in the coffee houses. By the beginning of the 18th century tea was being sold in leaf form, but was an extremely expensive commodity costing anything from 12-30 shillings a pound. This is when a skilled man earned on average 20 shillings (�1) a week. In the mid 18th century tea was stored in metal canisters inside tea chests that were shaped like trunks, but by the end of the 18th century, the mood of fashion was changing. Although expensive, more households were drinking tea and more containers were needed to store the precious leaves and keep them safe. Tea chests were becoming simpler in design and shape and the insides now had two wooden canisters and sometimes a crystal bowl to allow for the mixing of different teas. At this time, tea caddies started to appear in greater quantities and even the great designers of the day, Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite, produced designs for both chests and caddies. The �tea caddy� differed from a tea chest in that it did not have inner canisters but was used as a container in its own right, although today the term tea caddy is used to describe both chests and caddies. Caddies were made in all shapes, designs and a variety of materials, with the earliest being in wood usually with inlaid decoration of fruit, flowers, shells and many other designs. Shapes could be square, rectangular, oval, six or eight sided and could contain one, two or three compartments and even a space for a glass bowl. One of the most sought after wooden caddies are in the shape of different fruit, mostly apples and pears, which were turned rather than be made in a cabinetmakers workshop. Many other materials were used to make tea caddies, including tortoiseshell, papier-m�ch�, ivory and Chinese lacquer and the designs were very varied.


da: richard gardner antiques