Tea caddy

ARTIST / MAKER: N.K. Sethia (designer)
Scavia (maker)
DATE: 2016 (made)
PLACE: Italy (made)
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Cast and impressed silver with enamels, applied diamonds and carved mammoth ivory
COLLECTION NUMBER: 1324

This tea caddy is inspired by India’s elephants that played an important role in the tea plantations, transporting growers and their produce safely through the jungle. Made from silver with enamel it is decorated with rubies, diamonds and emeralds, and mammoth ivory is used to depict the elephant’s toes. As a tea taster by trade and the founder of Newby Teas, Nirmal Sethia is passionate about creating the finest teas and reviving the art of tea making and drinking. Through collecting and preserving the finest historic teawares in the Chitra collection, it is also his hope that respect for tea and its traditions can be rekindled. To support this mission, Nirmal Sethia has designed and commissioned a series of 21st century teawares, such as this example, in celebration of tea’s extraordinary history.