- Museum number
- C951A
C951B - Object
- Tea bowl and saucer, porcelain, Chinese, early eighteenth century
- Description
- Cup and Saucer.Fluted sides, decorated in Japanese Imari style, but with polychrome tin-enamel additions.Chinese . for the European market, Imari export ware, c 1750-1800.
- Materials
- Porcelain
- On display?
- Yes
Further description
- Simple name
- cup
saucer - Dimensions
- regular: 45.0cm (w)
Tea bowl and saucer
Chinese
Porcelain, early eighteenth century
C951
Tea is our National Drink. It’s drunk by everyone. In the eighteenth century it was an expensive luxury. To drink it was to make a statement about how rich and fashionable you were. It was responsibility of the mistress of the house to make and serve the tea. She held the key for the tea chest. Green tea was initially preferred but by the 1720s, cheaper black tea had become more popular. Boiling water was supplied from a tea kettle.
The shape of the silver tea bowl and saucer (S442) is derived from imported Chinese porcelain examples (C951). Silver tea bowls were only fashionable for a short time because they literally became too hot to handle. The fluted basin (S27) was for used tea leaves or
‘slops’. These were taken by the servants as a ‘perk’, dried and reused or sold.
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