Tea Caddy With Screw Top
The introduction of new kinds of refreshments, such as tea and coffee, created a demand for new items oftableware. At first, tea, which was extremely expensive, was kept in silver canisters, the value ofthe tea stored often exceeding by far that of the canister itself.
The drinking oftea was given ceremonial status whereby objects of lacquer work were a necessary requisite in order to create an Oriental atmosphere,.
Japanese lmari porcelain was a great source of inspiration for the Delft potters. The group is characterised by painting in various colours: hard-fired blue, overglaze red and gold and occasionally in the colours turquoise and yellow.
In Delft such Oriental showpieces were immediately reproduced, but not slavishly copied; form and decoration were subject to individual interpretation.
The present example, a strikingly large one, is decorated with the figure of a woman with children, representing the virtue, Charity, with to the sides a typical Japanese design of cherry blossoms.
There are few objects belonging to the large group of lmari Delftware depicting an allegorical theme, but the present example is an exception: it symbolises Love. |
