Tea Caddy
Wood: Mahogany
Secondary Wood: Mahogany, Pine
Joinery: Dovetailing, nails
Features: This tea caddy is made to look as though it contains four small drawers, but in actuality contains two compartments. The bottom having two smaller slots and a glass bowl between them. The chest mimics a bow front dresser, standing on four bracket legs, with the faux drawers holding keyholes to which there is no key.Tiny turned ivory pulls serve as lifts for the covers of the caddies which are paper lined.
Date: C. 1820
Provenance: New Hampshire Estate
Size: H. 14.5xW. 12.0x D. 6.5"
Weight: 6.6lbs
Condition: The glass bowl in the bottom drawer has small chips in the base, and the wood of the compartments has begun separating, marginally. There are some minor bumps and dings along the sides and top of the chest as well.
History: A tea caddy is a box, jar, canister, or other receptacle used to store tea.The word is believed to be derived from catty, the Chinese pound, equal to about a pound and a third avoirdupois. The earliest examples that came to Europe were of Chinese porcelain, and approximated in shape to the ginger-jar. They had lids or stoppers likewise of china, and were most frequently blue and white. Until about 1800 they were called tea canisters rather than caddies.A Nineteenth century tea caddy with its own standEarlier tea caddies were made of either porcelain or faience. Later designs had more variety in materials and designs. Wood, pewter, tortoiseshell, brass, copper and even silver were employed, but in the end the material most frequently used was wood, and there still survive vast numbers of Georgian box-shaped caddies in mahogany, rosewood, satin-wood and other timbers. These were often mounted in brass and delicately inlaid, with knobs of ivory, ebony or silver. Many examples were made in Holland, principally of the earthenware of Delft. There were also many English factories producing high quality goods.As the use of the jar waned and the box increased, the provision of different receptacles for green and black tea was abandoned, and the wooden caddy, with a lid and a lock, was made with two and often three divisions, the centre portion being reserved for sugar. In the late 18th and early 19th century, caddies made from mahogany and rosewood were popular. The larger varieties were known as tea chests. As tea grew cheaper there was less concern with the appearance of caddies, and as a result they fell out of use.The use of "tea caddy" instead of "biscuit tin" fell out of use in the early 1900s.