Pierre (Peter) Gillois
British, first mark entered 1754
Pair of Tea Canisters with Case
1769/70
These eighteenth-century British canisters are decorated with scenes of women playing stringed instruments or arranging flowers under parasols and pagoda canopies—details that refer to tea’s origins in the Far East. The two containers differ slightly in size. One of them may have been used to store sugar, an increasingly popular addition to tea as the century progressed. The mahogany case is fitted with a lock, demonstrating the high value placed on tea at the time.
| Medium | silver and mahogany |
| Dimensions | Canister: 5 9/16 × 4 1/8 × 3 5/16 in. (14.1 × 10.5 × 8.4 cm); weight: 11.35 oz (321.9 g) Canister: 5 11/16 × 4 1/8 × 3 13/16 in. (14.4 × 10.5 × 9.7 cm); weight: 12.4 oz (351.5 g) Case: 7 1/2 × 9 3/8 × 5 3/4 in. (19.1 × 23.8 × 14.6 cm); weight: 12.4 oz (351.5 g) |
| Object Number | 1978.15 |
| Acquisition | Gift of Henry Morris and Elizabeth H. Burrows, 1978 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Pierre (Peter) Gillois, Pair of Tea Canisters with Case, 1769/70, silver and mahogany. Clark Art Institute, gift of Henry Morris and Elizabeth H Burrows, 1978.15
Select Bibliography
Wees, Beth Carver. The Chinese Taste: European Visions of Cathay. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1979.
Wees, Beth Carver. English, Irish, and Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1997.
