Although tea consumption increased in Germany during the 1800s, it remained a pursuit of the wealthy and secondary to coffee. Viewed as an Anglophile trend, tea-drinking never trickled down to the lower classes as it did in Britain. This silver-gilt teapot is characteristic of the neoclassical forms which dominated design from the 18th century onwards, typified by the angular dark wood handle, laurel leaf frieze and cast griffin head spout. The maker Gottlob Ludwig Howaldt started working as an official master silversmith in 1816, but very little is known about his workshop.
