Tea service

Tea was one of the Chinese products most desired in eighteenth-century Europe, and the association between tea and China became firmly fixed in the Western mind. Implements for making and serving tea of Chinese manufacture or of Chinese or pseudo-Chinese design were often favored by Europeans.

This teapot comes from a Western-style silver tea service with many pieces, including cream pitcher, sugar bowl, strainer, spoons, and tray. For about a century and a half such tea sets have been made in Indonesia and elsewhere in Asia as luxurious gifts for distinguished visitors.

The designs on this teapot relate to those on some traditional Indonesian textiles.