two other new beverages appeared, chocolate from 

 the Americas and coffee from the Near East. The 

 presence of these commodities in European markets 

 is indicative of the vigorous exploration and active 

 trade of that century, which also witnessed the suc- 

 cessful settlement of colonies in North America. By 

 about mid-1 7th century the new beverages were 

 being drimk in England, and by the 1690's were 

 being sold in New England. At first chocolate was 

 preferred, but coffee, being somewhat cheaper, soon 

 replaced it and in England gave rise to a number of 

 public places of refreshment known as coffee houses. 

 Coffee was, of course, the primary drink of these 

 establishments, but that tea also was availaljle is 

 indicated by an advertisement that appeared in an 

 English new'spaper in 1658. One of the earliest 

 advertisements for tea, it announced: 



That Excellent, and by all Physitians approved, China 

 Drink, called by the Chineans, Tcha, by other nations Tay 

 alias Tec, is sold at the Sultaness-hcad, a Cophee-house in 

 Sweetings Rents by The Royal Exchange, London. - 



For a time tea was esteemed mainly for its curative 

 powers, which explains why it was "by all Physitians 

 approved." According to an English broadside pub- 

 lished in 1660, the numerous contemporary ailments 

 which tea "helpeth" included "the headaches, gid- 

 diness, and heaviness." It was also considered "good 

 for colds, drop.sies and scurvies and [it] expelleth 

 infection. It prevents and cures agues, surfeits and 

 fevers." ^ By the end of the 1 7th century, however, 

 tea's medicinal qualities had become secondary to its 

 fashionableness as a unique drink. Tea along with 

 the other exotic and novel imports from the Orient 

 such as fragile porcelains, lustrous silks, and painted 

 wallpapers had captured the European imagination. 

 Though the beverage was served in public pleasure 

 gardens as well as coffee houses during the early 

 1700's in England, social tea drinking in the home 

 was gradually coming into favor. The coffee houses 

 continued as centers of political, .social, and literary 

 influence as well as of commercial life into the first 

 half of the 19th century, for apparently Englishmen 

 preferred to drink their coffee in public rather than 

 private houses and among male rather than mixed 

 company. This was in contrast to tea, which was 



- Mercurius Polilicus, September 23-30, 1658. 

 3 Edward Wenham, "Tea and Tea Things in England," 

 Antiques, October 1948, vol. 54, p. 264. 



drunk in the home with breakfast or as a morning 

 beverage and socially at afternoon gatherings of both 

 sexes, as we see in the painting An English Family at 

 Tea (frontispiece). As tea drinking in the home be- 

 came fashionable, both host and hostess took pride in a 

 well-appointed tea table, for a teapot of silver or 

 fragile blue-and-white Oriental porcelain with match- 

 ing cups and saucers and other equipage added 

 prestige as well as elegance to the teatime ritual. 



At first the scarcity and expense of the tea, the costly 

 paraphernalia used to serve it, and the leisure consid- 

 ered necessary to consume it, limited the use of this 

 commodity to the upper classes. For these reasons, 

 social tea drinking was, understandably, a prestige 

 custom. One becomes increasingly aware of this 

 when looking at English paintings and prints of the 

 early 18th century, such as Family Group (fig. 1), 

 painted by Gawen Hamilton about 1730. Family 

 members are portrayed in the familiar setting of their 

 own parlor with its paneled walls and comfortable 

 furnishings. Their pet, a small dog, surveys the scene 

 from a resting place on a corner of the carpet. Tea- 

 time appears to have just begun, for cups are still be- 

 ing passed around and others on the table await filling 

 from the nearby porcelain teapot. It seems reason- 

 able to assume, since the painting is portraiture, that 

 the family is engaged in an activity which, although 

 familiar, is considered suitable to the group's social 

 position and worthy of being recorded in oil. That 

 tea drinking was a status symbol also is indicated by 

 the fact that the artist has used the tea ceremony as 

 the theme of the picture and the tea table as the focal 

 point. 



Eighteenth-century pictures and writings are basic 

 source materials for information about Anglo- 

 American tea drinking. (See the chronological list 

 of pictures consulted, on page 90.) A number of the 

 pictures are small-scale group or conversation piece 

 paintings of English origin in which family and friends 

 are assembled at tea, similar to Family Group, and they 

 provide ]3ictorial information on teatime modes and 

 manners. The surroundings in which the partakers 

 of tea are depicted also reveal information about the 

 period and about the gracious living enjoyed in the 

 better homes. Paneled walls and comfortable chairs, 

 handsome che.sts and decorative curtains, objects of 

 ceramic and silver and glass, all w-ere set down on 

 canvas or paper with painstaking care, and sometimes 

 with a certain amoimt of artistic license. A careful 

 study of these paintings provides an excellent guide for 

 furnishing and reconstructing period rooms and ex- 



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BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



