ished, the remaining teii and dregs were emptied into 

 the slop bowl. Then the cup might be rinsed with 

 hot water and the rinsing water discarded in the bowl. 

 The slop basin may also have been the receptacle 

 for the mote or foreign particles — then inherent in tea 

 but now extracted by mechanical means — that had 

 to be skimmed off the beverage in the cup. In Eng- 

 land this was probably done with a small utensil 

 known to present day collectors as a mote spoon or 

 mote skimmer. Although the exact purpose of these 

 spoons remains imsettled, it seems likely that they 

 were used with tea. It has been suggested that the 

 perforated bowl of the spoon was used for skimming 

 foreign particles off the tea in the cup and the tapering 

 .spike-end stem to clear the clogged-up strainer of the 

 teapot spout. The almost complete absence of 

 American-made mote spoons suggests that these par- 

 ticular utensils were seldom used here. Possibly the 

 "skimmer" advertised in 1727 with other silver tea 



Figure i8. — Stiegel-type, cobalt-blue glass sugar dish 

 with cover, made about 1770. {USNM 38^22; 

 Smithsonian photo 42133-D.) 



served cold and milk hot, or if tea drinkers were given 

 a choice between cream and milk, the Prince de 

 Broglie's comment already cited concerning his ability 

 to drink "excellent tea with even better cream" and 

 the predominance of cream over milk containers in 

 18th-century advertisements would seem to indicate 

 that in this country cream rather than milk was 

 served with tea in the afternoon. 



While the Americans, as the Europeans, added 

 cream or milk and sugar to their tea, the use of lemon 

 with the beverage is questionable. Nowhere is there 

 any indication that the citrus fruit was served or used 

 with tea in 18th-century America. Punch seems to 

 have been the drink with which lemons were 

 associated. 



Often a medium-sized bowl, usually hemispherical 

 in shape, is to be seen on the tea table, and it is most 

 likely a slop bowl or basin. According to advertise- 

 ments these bowls and basins were available in silver, 

 pewter, and ceramic.^* Before a teacup was replen- 



'* Pennsylvania Gazette, jaxniary 25, 1759; Pennsylvania Journal, 

 April 25, 1765; Independent Journal [New York], July 23, 1785. 



86 



Figure 19. — Silver creamer made by Myer Myers, of 

 New York, about 1750. The fanciful curves of the 

 handle and feet are related to the rococo design of the 

 sugar tongs in figure 16. {USNM 383553; Smithsonian 

 photo 45141-F.) 



BULLETIN 225: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



