Tea Caddy (1741–42): Art, History and Details

Tea Caddy (1741–42) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Paul Jacques de Lamerie (British, 1688–1751).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In the 1600s and 1700s, silver played a significant role in projecting wealth, status, power, and ritual in British life. Tea was likewise a highly valued commodity, and as such, silver caddies like this one were designed to display the social distinction of its owner. This canister’s prominently sloping shoulders were designed by Paul Jacques de Lamerie in the early 1730s and became a standard form for tea caddies by the end of the decade.

Object facts

• Title: Tea Caddy
• Date: 1741–42
• Creator attribution: Paul Jacques de Lamerie (British, 1688–1751)
• Culture: England, London
• Type: Silver
• Technique: silver gilt
• Dimensions: Overall: 13.4 x 9.6 x 5.8 cm (5 1/4 x 3 3/4 x 2 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1943.179.a

A detail from the museum

This tea caddy is accompanied by a lid. See cover record.

Collection credit

The Thomas S. Grasselli Memorial Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.