To Serve and Project: The William Grundy Kettle, 1753

Tea Kettle
William Grundy, 1753
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Though we most often associate the act of drinking tea with Britain, tea wasn’t  imported into Britain until the Seventeenth Century when it was used more as a mild stimulant or medicinal drink than just a beverage.

As the passion for China and things Chinese grew in Britain, tea became a fashionable and popular drink despite its high cost.  Before the fashion for “tea time” caught on, dinner was served around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, after which tea or coffee were often served.

Tea was always  made at the tea table by the lady of the house who employed an elegant silver or porcelain tea service. Tea kettles became popular at the beginning of the 18th century. At the time, these kettles often featured a small spirit lamp in the base to keep the water hot.  Servants used a tea kettle to bring the boiling water required for making tea from the kitchen to the tea table where it could be used by the lady of the house.

The sterling kettle and stand pictured above were made by William Grundy, who was apprenticed as a silversmith in 1731 and probably died before 1780. The engraved coat of arms is that of the Stacye family.

Until the 1730s, tea kettles (the costliest part of the tea service) were generally plain and unadorned, however, the influence of Rococo taste transformed kettles into a vehicle for extravagant ornament. This kettle by Grundy is chased with Rococo scrollwork and floral motifs.  Its domed lid is surmounted by an elegant finial in the shape of a bunch of grapes—a popular visual motif when this was made around 1753. 

Within 50 years, this kettle would have fallen into disuse, most likely replaced with a more fashionable tea urn.