Saturday, December 29, 2012

East India Tea Company - Poster


Object:
Poster

Place of origin:
London, England (made)

Date:
ca. 1870 (published)

Artist/Maker:
Adlard, J. (lithographer)

Materials and Techniques:
colour lithograph, inks on paper

Credit Line:
Presented by E. A. Binstead

Museum number:
E.180-1926

Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 125f, case WS

Object Type
This poster is a colour lithograph or chromolithograph. A lithograph is a picture made by printing from a flat surface (traditionally stone, now often a metal plate), on which the artist draws or paints the original design with a greasy substance like chalk. The surface is next prepared, moistened and inked; the greasy printing ink adheres to the design, which is then printed onto a sheet of paper. To make a colour lithograph a separate printing surface is required for each colour.

Subjects Depicted
Through a combination of imagery and text, this poster relays a great deal of information about the East India Tea Company, its brand of teas, and the way they were marketed. The lettering boldly spells out the name of the Company and its central London address, which is reinforced by the view of the headquarters building in St. Helen's Bishopsgate in the City of London. The scale of its British operation is spelt out in the sub-text, proudly boasting that agents for the product are 'appointed in every town & village'. The range of teas - black, green, mixed - is clearly described, and the price (two shillings per pound in weight) and weight per bag (6 pounds) is shown in label format. The artists also shows us the brand packaging, visible on the consignment of tea arriving at headquarters.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Norman Rockwell on Tea

"Tea for Two" or "Tea Time" Saturday Evening Post Cover, October 22,1927
Beloved American artist Norman Rockwell (1894 – 1978) is most known for his nostalgic, touching paintings that appealingly depicted simple scenes from everyday life.
 First hired to illustrate a series of children’s books when he was 16, Rockwell was then hired as the art director of “Boys’ Life,” the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. 
The “Saturday Evening Post,” the era’s most prestigious magazine, bought their first cover from him six years later. 
For almost five decades, he created 321 “Post” covers, which became his trademark. 
Later illustrating for “Look” magazine, he probed more serious cultural concerns.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Reindeer Calving Season and Tea - by Gordon Wiltsie


A Komi Reindeer Herder Makes Tea During Reindeer Calving Season


Komi Reindeer Herders Live on the Land in Reindeer Calving Season 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Blessed and Very Merry Christmas to One and All!

NOEL EN AMERIQUE, 1919 by Alfonso Mucha
A very Blessed and Merry Christmas to everyone. 
May this Christmas Season be filled with much love, happiness and cups full of tea!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

Teahouse Waitress - Utamaro Kitagawa

A Half Length Portrait of Naniwaya Okita, 
the Famous Teahouse Waitress Serving a Cup of Tea  
by Utamaro Kitagawa 

Tea House Girl  by Utamaro Kitagawa 

Takigawa from the Tea-House, Ogi

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Tribute to the Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773
Boston Tea Party, a Protest against British Taxes Before the American Revolution, c.1773
The Boston Tea Party

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Nicotine and Tea


Tea, attention all smokers

We would generally refer to tea as a plant or its derivatives being infused or steeped in boiling water and ingested for a health benefit.
Since ancient times, in the folklore of the West, a cup of mint tea has been used for indigestion or a cup of chamomile tea to calm and aid in achieving a good nights sleep.
Traditional Chinese tea also, according to ancient folklore is rooted in health benefits. It is commonly believed in China that tea drinking first began with the Empower Shen Nong in the 3rd, millennium BC.
It was then, and still is praised for its digestive aiding properties and generally consumed during, and or after eating. 
A recent study has shown tea’s unique ability to hasten the discharge of nicotine from smoker’s bodies. By the way nicotine is one of the main ingredients in many weed and insect killing pesticides.

Follow the links for more information:


Tea In Timbuktu


Tuareg Men Preparing for Tea Ceremony Outside a Traditional Homestead, Timbuktu, Mali  
by Ariadne Van Zandbergen

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A Tribute to the Mad hatter's Tea Party

The Mad Tea Party  by Arthur Rackham
Mad Tea Party
The Hatter's Mad Tea Party the Hatter and the Hare Put the Dormouse in the Tea-Pot  by John Tenniel
Alice at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party  by John Tenniel

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Le Lotus Bleu: Tintin with Tea Sketch by Hergé (Georges Rémi)


As dedicated as the cartoon character he invented, Belgian artist Georges Rémi created Tintin adventures up until his death. 
Exceptionally popular with adults and children, the artist better known as Hergé (1907 – 1983) was one of Europe’s most influential comic artists. 
His character Tintin was a young reporter accompanied by his faithful fox terrier as they fought the world’s evils.
 Hergé often expressed his controversial, right-wing opinions through Tintin, and his signature, fluid style influenced numerous Brussels’ school cartoonists.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Taking Tea Together - An Historical Time Piece

This image comes from the historical archives of LIFE Magazine.

Philosopher Writer Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir Taking Tea Together

Monday, December 3, 2012

The history of Taiping Houkui


Taiping Houkui is a famous Chinese tea created in 1900. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Nanjing Ye Changchun Tea House was opened in Xinming tea area, Taiping County and started tea-purchasing business. In order to gain profits, the boss separated young leaves out of the end product and sold them to Nanjing and other cities with a high price. Wang Lao'er, a tea grower in Houkeng, then learned from the practice. He picked stout and young tea leaves featuring two leaves and one bud from the Fenghuang Jian Tea Plantation, which were carefully processed into Wang Lao'er Kuijian Tea. Because of its top quality among its kind, it was named “Houkui” after the producing area Houkeng.
In 1915, Taiping Houkui was awarded the Gold Medal in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. In 1955 after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, it was again listed as one of the Top Ten Famous Teas in China.

By Explore Cultural China

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The legend of Taiping Houkui tea


As the legend goes, once upon a time when a villager went to pick tea leaves in a mountain, he suddenly smelled some faint and refreshing scent luring him to search everywhere for the place of origin. Finally he found several tea plants between rocks high above the precipices but no way to get there. Later, he found a monkey to climb up the cliff and pick the tea for him in harvesting season, which was hence named "houkui (Monkey Picked Tea)".

By Explore Cultural China

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