Figure 9.—The Honeymoon, by John Collett, about 1760. In the midst of a domestic scene replete with homey details, the artist has depicted with care the tea table and its furnishing, including a fashionable tea urn symbolically topped with a pair of affectionate birds. (Photo courtesy of Frick Art Reference Library.)
Table cloths—usually square white ones (as in [fig. 9]) that showed folds from having been stored in a linen press—were used when tea was served, but it is difficult to say with any certainty if their use depended upon the whim of the hostess, the type of table, or the time of day. A cloth probably was used more often on a table with a plain top than on one with scalloped or carved edges. However, as can be seen in Family Group ([fig. 1]) and An English Family at Tea ([frontispiece]), it was perfectly acceptable to serve tea on a plain-top table without a cloth. Apparently such tables were also used at breakfast or morning tea, because Benjamin Franklin, in a letter from London dated February 19, 1758, gave the following directions for the use of “six coarse diaper Breakfast Cloths” which he sent to his wife: “they are to spread on the Tea Table, for nobody breakfasts here on the naked Table, but on the Cloth set a large Tea Board with the Cups.”[[45]] Some of the 18th-century paintings depicting tea tables with cloths do deal with the morning hours, as indicated by their titles or internal evidence, as in The Honeymoon ([fig. 9]) painted by John Collett about 1760. In this scene of domestic confusion and bliss, a tray or teaboard has been placed on the cloth, illustrating Franklin’s comment about English breakfast habits. Cloths may also be seen in pictures in which the time of day cannot be determined. Therefore, the use of a cloth at teatime may in truth have depended upon the hostess’s whim if not her pocketbook.
In addition, trays or teaboards of various sizes and shapes were sometimes used. They were usually circular or rectangular in form, occasionally of shaped or scalloped outline. Some trays were supported upon low feet; others had pierced or fretwork galleries or edges to prevent the utensils from slipping off. Wood or metal was the usual material, although ceramic trays were also used. At large gatherings a tray was often employed for passing refreshments ([fig. 4]). “A servant brings in on a silver tray the cups, the sugar bowl, the cream jugs, pats of butter, and smoked meat, which are offered to each individual,” explained Ferdinand Bayard.[[46]] The principal use of the tray was, of course, to bring the tea equipage to the table. Whether placed on a bare or covered table, it arrived with the various pieces such as cups and saucers, spoons, containers for sugar and cream or milk, tongs, bowls, and dishes arranged about the teapot.
Figure 10.—Pieces of a tea set of Crown-Derby porcelain, dating about 1790. The cups and saucers, covered sugar bowl, container for cream or milk, plate and bowls are ornamented with gilt borders and a scattering of blue flowers on a white ground (USNM 54089-54095; Smithsonian photo 45541-A.)
Such tea furnishings of ceramic were sold in sets; that is, all pieces being of the same pattern. Newspaper advertisements in the 1730’s specifically mention “Tea Setts,” and later in the century ceramic imports continue to include “beautiful compleat Tea-Setts” ([fig. 10]). In the early 18th century, tea sets of silver were uncommon if not actually unique, though pieces were occasionally made to match existing items, and, in this way, a so-called set similar to the pieces seen in Tea Party in the Time of George I ([fig. 5]) could be formed. However, by the latter part of the century the wealthier hostesses were able to purchase from among a “most elegant assortment of Silver Plate ... compleat Tea and Coffee services, plain and rich engraved.”[[47]] When of metal, tea sets ([fig. 11]) usually consisted of a teapot, containers for sugar and cream or milk, and possibly a slop bowl, while ceramic sets, such as the one seen in Family Group ([fig. 1]), included cups and saucers as well.
Figure 11.—Silver tea set consisting of teapot, sugar bowl, container for cream or milk, and waste bowl, made by John McMullin, of Philadelphia, about 1800. Matching coffee and hot water pot made by Samuel Williamson, also of Philadelphia. The letter “G,” in fashionable script, is engraved on each piece. (USNM 37809; Smithsonian photo 45541.)
While the tea set illustrated in Family Group appears to have all the basic pieces, it can hardly be considered a “complete” tea set when compared with the following porcelain sets listed in the 1747 inventory of James Pemberton of Boston:
| One sett Burnt [china] Cont[aining] 12 Cups & Saucers Slop Bowl Tea Pot Milk Pot boat [for spoons] tea Cannister Sugar Dish 5 Handle Cups plate for the Tea Pot & a wht[e] Tea Pot Value | [£]20 |
| One set Blue & white do. contg. 12 Cups & saucers Slop Bowl 2 plates Sugr. Dish Tea Pot 6 Handle Cups & white tea Pot Value | [£]10 |