China Trade Gilt-Decorated Black Lacquer Tea Caddy, Circa 1850. Decorated on the exterior with scenes depicting the processing of tea, the interior cover with an oval depicting a group of figures flanked by plants, the pewter cover etched with two men in a garden holding fans and opening to a divided compartment.H: 6.5 in., W: 12.125 in., D: 8 in.Provenance: Property from the Collection of Cortlandt and Nancy Knowles Parker, descendants of William Gray (a Salem merchant and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts), Jonathan and Susannah Powell Mason, Patrick and Anna Powell Mason Grant, Morris Gray (President of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1914-24) and Flora Grant Gray, and Major-General Cortlandt and Elizabeth Gray Parker. Spanning multiple styles and periods across the categories of furniture, fine and decorative arts, the collection has been housed in the family home, Greenvale Farm Estate and Vineyard, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for six generations. Boston China Trade merchant John Sargent Barstow purchased 53 acres of land on the Sakonnet River during the early 1860’s and hired the prominent Boston architect John Hubbard Sturgis to design the main house, stable and barn. The historic Stick style home with Gothic elements was constructed from 1864 to 1865 by Edmond Coggeshall of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.Literature: A similar tea caddy depicting scenes from the growing and processing of tea is discussed and illustrated in Carl L. Crossman, "The Decorative Arts of the China Trade," p. 279, pl. 156.

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6.5 x 12.125 x 8 in