Of octagonal form and wooden construction with original polychrome floral decoration, comprising carnations, roses, lilies and rosehips. The 'tented' lid surmounted by a silvered knop, lifting to reveal an interior 'floating' lid (to keep the tea airtight) with a turned bone knop. Complete with key. The interior with remnants of original foiling.

The style of decoration of this caddy is unusual in that it presents specimens of flowers rather than utilising them as decorative elements formed as garlands or contained in oval medallions. Tea was an expensive commodity during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as were the accoutrements relating to its consumption. To keep it safe, the valuable tea leaves would be stored in a ‘tea chest’ which was normally kept locked. Tania M. Buckrell Pos commented that: ‘[b]y the mid-eighteenth century tea chests were being replaced by the all-wooden tea caddy’. (Tania M. Buckrell Pos, ‘Tea & Taste: The Visual Language of Tea’ (Schiffer Publishing, 2004), p.127.)

Ralph Edwards explains that the word ‘caddy’ is a corruption of ‘catty (Kati)’ – a measurement of weight used in Indonesia and China, around half a kilogram (‘The Dictionary of English Furniture: Volume Three’ (Antique Collectors’ Club, 1983), p.339).