Tea caddy in the form of a tea bundle
1878
Medium
Bone china
Dimensions
confirmed: 4 × 4 1/8 × 2 7/8 in., 10.581oz. (10.2 × 10.5 × 7.3 cm, 300g)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Helene Fortunoff and Robert Grossman, 2017
Accession Number
2018.62.55a, b
Art Historical Context
This charming tea caddy, crafted by the renowned British firm Minton(s) in 1878, takes the whimsical form of a bundled tea package, complete with knotted string and textured leaves. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection, this petite bone china object measures just 4 × 4⅛ × 2⅞ inches and weighs a mere 10.6 ounces, making it a delightful example of Victorian ingenuity from Stoke-on-Trent, the epicenter of England's pottery industry. Bone china, Minton's specialty, revolutionized ceramics with its exceptional strength, pure white translucenc...
About the Artist
Minton(s) · 1793–2001
Minton is among the most distinguished names in the history of British ceramics, a firm whose two and a quarter centuries of production encompass everything from blue transfer-printed earthenwares to the most rarefied decorative porcelain of the Victorian age. The company was founded in 1793 by Thomas Minton (1765–1836) in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire — the heart of England's pottery industry. ...