An Elite Ritual

 

The Strong Family

Charles Philips

1732

Example of an 18th century English family portrait which includes a tea service, an indication of gentility. Strong, of Greenwich, was the master mason of St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Strode Family

William Hogarth

1738

A further example of an English family portrait which includes a tea time scene.

Tea service in the Patuxent room, Winterthur Museum

18th C

The design influences exhibited in this room came principally from England. The black transfer-printed tea set on the Philadelphia scalloped-top table was made in Worcester, England. The design of the bracket on the far wall, however, was copied directly from Thomas Jefferson's influential publication of 1758. In eighteenth century America, bedrooms were often used for informal entertaining. Also note the finely worked crewel-embroidered hangings with pastoral landscapes.

Tea service in the Marlboro Room, Winterthur Museum

18th C

Reconstruction of an 18th century American sitting room. Above the Queen Anne sofa is a Charles Willson Peale group portrait of the Edward Lloyd family with a view of their Maryland plantation, Wye House.