London silver tea kettle

This is the earliest known English silver tea-kettle, marked 1694-5. It is engraved with the coat-of-arms of the Norfolk Buxton family, although made in London. Possessing such a tea-kettle at this early date implied considerable means if the owner could afford to drink tea regularly – the coat-of-arms suggests the esteem in which such an object was held.

Tea was a new luxury commodity in the seventeenth century, an important component of the East India Company’s trade with China. Until the mid eighteenth century it was taxed so highly it was out of reach of all but the wealthiest, and was often smuggled. To serve tea at home was a sign of status, and it demanded correspondingly lavish utensils, including a silver kettle, like this one, teamed with a teapot and tea-bowls of equally expensive Chinese porcelain.