Comprising a teapot, sugar bowl and milk jug, this silver tea set is decorated with enamels depicting naturalistic iris, wisteria blossom and foliage. Japanese metalworkers were extremely skilled and took advantage of the new trading links established with the West after almost two hundred years of Japan’s seclusion, which resulted in a significant demand for Japanese art and crafts. Motifs such as dragons, irises and prunus blossoms were fashionable on the Western market and it is likely that this set was made specifically for export.
