26 
House & Garden 
Design for a tea chest by 
Thomas Chippendale, from 
“The Gentleman and Cabinet- 
Maker’s Director,” London, 
1762 
TEA and ANTIQUITY—A COLLECTOR’S COMBINATION 
There Are Infinite Possibilities in Collecting the Antiques and Curios that Relate to Tea, 
Both from American and British Sources 
GARDNER TEALL 
Another Chippendale chest from that 
master’s book of designs 
“that our host is the original of Walter Pater’s 
‘Marius the Epicurean,’ his best friend?” It 
was then that I gasped forth something about 
a Mohamet in Mecca. “You must remember,” 
said the other indulgently, “that you are in 
London.” 
And here we stood, this other afternoon, on 
the threshold of another happy adventure! 
“Tea and antiquity seem to go amazingly 
well together,” said our host of this second day, 
“but our friend Marius has probably shown 
you that. Still, his hobbies are many. Ours 
are few. If we have not ridden in every nook 
and corner of the world, we have ridden furi- 
Tea chests in Chippendale design are ' 
to be found aplenty 
O NE afternoon of a day late in 
autumn we were having tea 
in Camberwell. The home of our 
English friends was a house redo¬ 
lent with memories. The Brown¬ 
ings, Carlyle, and many others had, 
in days gone by, gathered beneath 
the hospitable roof. It was one of 
those houses whose exterior gave 
hint of an interesting history. Not 
all interesting houses do that. This 
one particularly did, so much so, 
that it lent much of its fascination 
(or appeared to lend it), to its 
neighbors. 
Perhaps we were in the mood for 
thinking so, for had we not dropped 
in to a tea at another wonderful house a few 
steps away but the day before? 
A Treasure House 
And what a house that had been! What a 
host! 
I think all the treasures of the earth must 
have been gathered there to commemorate the 
yesterdays of beautiful things, of interesting 
personalties. There was the actual chair in 
which George Eliot sat when writing “Rom- 
olo”; I had sat in it drinking tea! A plate of 
delectable biscuits was on my right—Carlyle’s 
table! If I had been ill-mannered enough to 
devour all the biscuits, I am sure that plate 
would have revealed itself as equally delectable 
Sevres; I guessed as much from its edge. What 
an afternoon that had been! Charles Lamb’s 
bookcase! The Persian lacquered mirror that 
belonged to Rossetti! 
“And did you know,” said my companion, 
An early 19 th Century tea kettle and tea bucket 
of lacquered metal 
Chinese Chippendale tea tray, made in 1760 
English lacquered and silver caddies of the early 
19 th Century 
ously in one direction — tea.” 
With curiosity piqued we fol¬ 
lowed to the library. “Arthur!” 
warned our hostess, as the master of 
the house paused before the glass- 
encased shelves to the right of a 
tapestry-hung doorway. 
“No,” he laughed, “I’m not go¬ 
ing to—yet! You see, every book 
on those shelves has to do with tea, 
old tea, new tea, good tea, poor tea. 
Everything everyone has ever 
known and printed about tea is 
there. You will find the first edi¬ 
tion of ‘Pepys’ Diary,’ in which 
that indefatigable chronicler re¬ 
marks ‘I did send for a cup of tea 
(a Chinese drink), of which I never had drunk 
before.’ Then there is the rare first edition of 
Philippe Sylvestere Dufour’s ‘Manner of Mak¬ 
ing Coffee, Tea and Chocolate,’ a quaint little 
volume printed in 1685, and just ‘there’ ”—■ 
our host pointed through the glass—“is Simon 
Paulli’s ‘Commentarius’ of 1665.” 
“Arthur,” laughed our hostess, “remember 
the fate of Carleton and Lord North in forcing 
tea down the throat of America, while Bri- 
tania wept!” 
“I meant to go straight ahead!” our host 
replied with affected meekness, holding back the 
tapestry to admit us into the very sanctum of 
this entertaining collector’s worshipping. 
A Collector’s Sanctum 
The large room, despite its generous dimen¬ 
sions, was cosy. Although,filled almost to over¬ 
flowing with rare bits of china, prints, brasses, 
pewter; in fact, with a wealth of objects that 
