Queen Anne Style Silver Tea Caddy
£450.00
YEAR OF MANUFACTURE: circa 1902
ORIGIN: London, England
MAKER: William Hutton & Sons, London, c 1800 - 1930
STOCK CODE: 5432
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Item Description
A fine example of an Edwardian oval silver tea caddy in the Queen Anne style, with a hinged lid and blackwood finial. The caddy is engraved with the crest of a griffon's head and could form an integral part of a wider tea set.
Tea drinking in England became fashionable and hugely popular among the wealthy from the late 17th century. For most of the 18th century, import duties and the East India Company's monopoly on importing tea kept the price of tea artificially high making it a very expensive commodity. This in turn established the need for airtight, lockable tea canisters and chests, not only to preserve the tea's distinctive flavours, but to protect the precious contents. Commensurate with the high value of the contents, caddies became treasured and valuable accessories in their own right often made in fine porcelain or silver, and invariably fitted with a key.
By the end of the 18th century tea canisters and chests were referred to as tea caddies. The word caddy is thought to derive from the Malay word "kati" which was a measure of tea weighing about one imperial pound.
OFFERED BY:
Langfords
London Silver Vaults, Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS, United Kingdom View map
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£450.00