Beautiful vessels made to store and serve tea are evidence of the beverage’s importance in Western as well as Eastern cultures. Tea drinking was first encountered by Portuguese priests and merchants working in China during the 16th century. By the mid-1600s, the custom had spread to the coffeehouses of London, and tea became a popular – if expensive – drink in colonial and Federal America as well. Each of these blue-and-white pieces bears wide hatched borders typical of work produced in or shipped from the port of Nanking. They are further enhanced with gilding. The shape of the covered dish is based on a piece of Swedish tin-glazed earthenware. The teapot is based on a European silver form.