Pair, Japanned Chinoiserie Tea Caddies W/ Sifter Drawers, English C. 1830

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Pair Of Japanned Chinoiserie Tea Caddies With Sifter Drawers, Anglo-Indian Or English, Circa 1800–1830

Form and construction, these read as … Read more Pair Of Japanned Chinoiserie Tea Caddies With Sifter Drawers, Anglo-Indian Or English, Circa 1800–1830

Form and construction, these read as a scarce, matched pair of japanned tea caddies made for the British tea table, each built as a lidded, pagoda-topped chest set over a pull-out base drawer. The black ground with gilt chinoiserie vignettes (pagodas, palms, stylized foliage, and small figures) aligns with the long British taste for lacquer-like surfaces that deliberately imitated East Asian export lacquer (“japanning”), a decorative industry well established in Britain and widely applied to small domestic objects.

What makes this example particularly unusual is the functional interior: the primary compartment is fitted with a metal lining and a perforated sifting element, paired with the lower sifter drawer. Tea was historically stored in lined containers (often tin, tin foil, or “tea pewter” alloys) to protect it from moisture and odor transfer; a sifting drawer suggests a more specialized use—separating fine “tea dust” from larger leaf, or managing blended teas—features seen far less often than the standard twin-lidded canisters or single-compartment caddies.

Measures: 7" w x 6" d x 7.5" h See less