10. Tea Chest

Tea Trade:  From  the  17^th C, tea started to become a  defining commodity of the Silk Roads and Russia opened up the Siberian Tea Route to China which competed with the long sea route round Africa.

Russian traders claimed, in their sales pitch to Europe, that the Siberian cold kept the tea fresher longer than the ship route round Africa that had to cross the tropics twice.

This elegant painted lacquer tea chest  with four pewter tea caddies more than hints at the  high cost of these fine teas. Cheaper cake tea was also available. With the advent of direct trade by American vessels in the mid-1780s the market for export lacquers, mostly black with gilt and some details in red, increased greatly. Note, in the same case, the model Indiaman, with cannon, that bought the tea to Europe.

The chest is dated to 1810-1825 and is 38cm x 26cm x 15cm.