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PROPERTY OF A LADY, LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS The set is generally considered to have been painted,
along with sets depicting porcelain and rice production,
A SET OF TWELVE CHINA TRADE ‘TEA around 1790-1800. The late 18th century style and the ‘Tea
CULTIVATION’ PAINTINGS Production’ set are discussed in Carl Crossman, The China
QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1800 Trade, Woodbridge, Su olk, 1991, p. 179. The late 18th century
attribution is further aided by a leather-bound set of twelve
Chinese School, gouache on paper, each depicting various ‘Tea Production’ paintings, formerly in the collection of Lord
stages of tea cultivation: tilling, planting the tea sapling, Grenville, who served as Foreign Secretary of England from
fertilizing, picking the tea leaves, sorting, sunning, pounding 1791-1801 and Prime Minister in 1806-7. The album is inscribed
and drying, ring the tea, grading, weaving the boxes and ‘Lord Grenville, Chinese Drawings ft. 1803.’ For more on this
packing, shipping and selling; together with the Countess of group see Pauline Webber, ‘A Souvenir from Guangzhou’ V&A
Powis’s bookplate, all framed (13) Conservation Journal, Autumn 2004, no.48, pp 2-4.
Height 15⅜ in., 39 cm; Width 19 in., 48.3 cm
PROVENANCE $ 20,000-30,000 1865 1929
1800
Collection of Violet Herbert, Countess of Powis (1865-1929),
Powis Castle, Powys, Wales. Violet Herbert
Needham’s Antiques Inc., J. E. Treleaven , New York, 5th
March 1964.
Collection of Walter L. Marr III (1932-2014), Northbrook, Illinois
and thence by descent.
Although the concept of tea seems relatively simple—dry leaf Needham’s Antiques Inc. J. E. Treleaven
infused in hot water—the manufacture of it is highly nuanced
and complex. In the 18th century, while coveting the desirable 1964 3 5
and expensive beverage, Westerners had little to no knowledge
regarding its cultivation and processing. Walter L Marr III 1932 2014 Northbrook
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