Teapoy with four oval tea caddies

Teapoy with four oval tea caddies

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The word teapoy derives from the Hindu tepai, meaning "three-legged" or "three-footed" and refers to a small table or stand on a tripod support. These were used "in drawing rooms to prevent the company rising from their seats whilst taking refreshment," according to the Regency furniture designer George Smith (act. 1804–28) in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808). However, from about 1810 on, it came to signify a chest on a stand fitted with various compartments holding removable caddies for storing tea. Here, the names of the teas are engraved in silver medallions.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Teapoy with four oval tea caddiesTeapoy with four oval tea caddiesTeapoy with four oval tea caddiesTeapoy with four oval tea caddiesTeapoy with four oval tea caddies

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.