April showers bring May flowers, or at least in the case of this Object of the Month, a porcelain tea caddy decorated with molded and painted sprays of flowers. The caddy also features a domed lid with gilded edges where the lid and body meet. The word “caddy” derives from the Chinese word catty or kati, which refers to a unit of measurement traditionally used in weighing foodstuffs, and is a term still used in parts of Asia for pricing tea.
Tea caddies were used to store tea leaves. The expense of tea, a luxury item in 18th and early 19th century England, meant that the containers it was kept in often had locks, or were highly decorative like this one. This example by an unknown manufacturer dates to the early 19th century and is probably of English origin. The truly interesting thing about this caddy is the pencil inscription on the bottom, written in Henry W. Longfellow’s hand. It reads “From the sale of / Thackeray’s Furniture. Given me by Mr. Forstor Graham / London. 1868.”
Longfellow’s note informs us that the caddy originally belonged to English writer William Makepeace Thackeray, best known for authoring the 1848 novel Vanity Fair. An acquaintance of Longfellow’s, Thackeray is mentioned several times in his journal, including a note of their first meeting on November 13, 1852, of which Henry wrote “Then I called on Thackeray at the Tremont . . . I do not think I shall care much for him. He seems conceited . . .” Longfellow’s attitude towards Thackeray appears to have mellowed, as Henry attended the English writer’s lectures in the United States on multiple occasions and even hosted him at his Cambridge home in December, 1855.
Thackeray died in 1863 and some of his personal effects were eventually sold at auction. This tea caddy was acquired by a Mr. Forstor Graham, of whom we know nothing other than that Longfellow must have met him in England in 1868 during the Longfellow family’s Grand Tour of Europe. It was during this trip that Mr. Graham presented the tea caddy to Henry, who displayed it in his library for the rest of his life, and where it can still be seen today.