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Description:
Ref: 876TC  http://hygra.com/box/876TC

 Hexagonal shaped two compartment tea caddy veneered with satinwood and inlaid with oval marquetry panels depicting the Prince of Wales's feathers to the front and floral motifs to the sides. The caddy opens  to  two compartments lined with a metallic paper.  Although old this is likely to be 19th C. The subtle shading is achieved by dipping the separate fretted  pieces of wood into molten lead or hot sand.

Origin: UK ;  Circa: 1800; Materials: satinwood on a pine structure.

Size: 20.5 cm wide by 10 cm by 12.5 cm:   8.1 inches wide by  4 inches by  4.9 inches.
Keywords: Georgian, tea caddy, satinwood, marquetry, Prince of Wales's feathers, hygra, antique

Condition: good overall; working lock and key; see images;  as each person has different criteria and antiques by their very nature have wear  please enlarge the images and ask for extra information as needed. 

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The inlays were not always made by the cabinet makers who made the boxes. More ambitious work was often executed by masters of marquetry. The oval medallions of marquetry were usually bought in from specialist craftsmen. For example, Joseph Binns worked in London and on his trade card dating from the last decade of the 18th century, he described himself as "Oval Shell & Stringing Maker, Dyed Woods of Different Colors..."

The subtle shading is achieved by dipping the separate fretted  pieces of wood into molten lead or hot sand.

 

See: Antique Boxes, Tea Caddies, and Society, 1700--1880 
Antigone Clarke & Joseph O'Kelly, ISBN: 0764316885 

"One of Hepplewhite's motifs, that of the Prince of Wales’s Feathers, became de rigueur during the Regency crisis. In 1788 the old king, George III appeared to have lost his reason. A Regency Bill was hastily drawn expecting the imminent rise to power of George, the Prince of Wales. The Prince's political sympathies were on the side of the Whigs and the ladies of fashion who also had Whig inclinations hastened to decorate their hats with three ostrich feathers, much to the delight of the cartoonists who had a field day. A more quiet way of anticipating the Prince's ascendancy was to have one's box discreetly inlaid with the Prince's symbol. This is a particularly fine rendition of this design.

 Unfortunately for the Whigs and in spite of the bafooning doctors, the King recovered and the Regency was postponed for another twenty years, by which time the political affiliations of the Prince were totally confused."

 

A

The top has an inlaid marquetry oval depicting stylized acanthus leaves forming a patera motife. 

The leaves are shaded by scorching.  

Originally a patera was a saucer-shaped Roman drinking vessel, but now and in the 18th C it has a wider meaning.

 

Inside the caddy has two compartments lined with a metallic paper. Although old this is likely to be 19th C. 

Generally in the 1790s  the supplementary lids sit directly on the tea and did not have supports.

The two tennon lock and the stop hinges point to the caddy having been made around 1800.

 

A

Underside.