Tea caddy/ box - Mahogany

A large antique mahogany tea caddy with it's original cut glass mixing bowl, brass handle, and twin lift-out tea canisters, dating from the late Georgian to early Regency period, circa 1810–1830. This is a particularly large and rare example, as it includes the glass mixing bowl, the interior is red felt lined and the two pull out canisters are foil lined, everything in good original condition; there is a key which fits, but does not turn, the lock, sitting on four turned feet.

In England in the 18th and early 19th centuries tea was seen as an exotic commodity and was certainly expensive, it would have been kept in a locked caddy under the control of the lady of the house, protected from casual theft by the servants and dispensed sparingly and with great ritual, this caddy is an excellent example, one small chip to one edge. As the caddy was a social status symbol under the close scrutiny of visitors to the house, caddies such as these were made to the very highest standards of the cabinet makers art.

The measurements are 35.5cm x 15.5cm x 16cm (14" x 6.1" x 6.3").