Caddies.
As the tea table would be incomplete without the beverage brewed from tea-leaves it follows as a natural sequence that the housewife has always required a storebox for her supply, and in some cases one in which she could keep under lock and key more than one variety. When tea was first imported into this country it was sent over from China in a kati, a small wooden box holding about 1-1/3 lb.; hence the name passed on to the more elaborate receptacles on the sideboard containing the household supply. These boxes were mostly fashioned in accord with the furniture, many having the well-known Sheraton shell design on the lid, or on the front of the box. Some are square-sided, others tapered, generally finished with beautiful little brass caddy balls as feet, and often with brass ring handles and ornaments. The inside of the caddy was divided into two compartments, usually boxes lined with lead or lead paper, and frequently a central compartment for a sugar bowl was added. In nearly all the better boxes there was provision for the silver caddy spoon with which to apportion the accustomed supply.
Chelsea and Bow Cupids.
Those curious little boy figures known as Chelsea and Bow Cupids are for the most part classed with ornaments, but they more appropriately belong to table appointments, for in olden time when the cloth had been removed these curious little figures were placed upon the mahogany or oaken board along with the dessert, as if to guard the fruit and the wine. The Cupids are garlanded with flowers, baskets of which they have in their hands—delightful little figures when genuine antiques. They vary in size and are said to have been divided in the past as "small" and "large" boys.
Nutcrackers.
Many a famous joke has been cracked over the "walnuts and wine." It was when the board was cleared of the viands that the nuts and fruit were partaken of. The edible nuts mostly favoured before foreign supplies came into the market were the hazel, walnut, chestnut, and the famous Kent filberts. Although doubtless supplemented by any objects handy, the primitive method of cracking nuts with the teeth was generally practised by the common people. What more natural than for the early inventor to see in the human head the "box" in which to place his mechanical device and to give power and leverage by utilizing the legs of the man he had carved in wood. In the Middle Ages some remarkable carvings were produced, mostly working on the same lines as the earliest forms. In the seventeenth century, when metal crackers came into vogue, pressure was applied by means of a screw, and the contemporary wood crackers were designed on that principle. Afterwards the older type of cracker was revived, both in wood and metal; subsequently the simpler form at present in use was adopted.
Here and there in museums and among domestic relics odd pairs of these old crackers are discovered. The interest in them, however, grows when several early examples are placed side by side. There are a few instances of specialized collections, and through the courtesy of Mr. Charles Evans, of Nailsea Court, who possesses a unique collection of all periods, we are able to illustrate a variety of forms. Fig. [31] represents a very early pair of nutcrackers, probably made in the fourteenth century; the one shown in Fig. [34] has the Elizabethan ruff round the neck of the carved head; and Figs. [28], [29], and [30] represent the screw period, Fig. [28] being an early example. One of the finest pieces in the collection is Fig. [29], a cracker in the form of a hooded monk; Fig. [30] being a charming bit of wood-carving in walnut wood, a somewhat grotesque figure representing an old fiddler. Fig. [33] is a curious cracker combining a useful pick almost in the form of the bill of a bird, Fig. [32] being of similar date. The next group shows the evolution from the metal screw to the more ordinary types, Figs. [36] and [38] being screw nutcrackers; [35], [37], and [39] being quaint examples of early metal nutcrackers modelled on more modern form. Such curios are extremely interesting, and whether exhibited as specimens of carving or of metal work, or used as table ornaments combining utility and antiquarian interest, they are well worth securing.
FIG. 27.—INSCRIBED SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WOOD DRINKING CUP.
(In Taunton Castle Museum.)