Charles Aldridge & Henry Green Sterling Silver

An exceptional, fine and impressive antique Georgian English sterling silver locking tea caddy; an addition to our silver teaware collection This exceptional antique Georgian sterling silver tea caddy has a cylindrical form. The upper and lower portions of this Aesthetic style silver tea caddy is embellished with bands of bright cut engraved floral bud designs; further vertical bands segment the body into five equal portions, each encompassed with undulating wrigglework borders. The anterior portion of the body is ornamented with a bright cut engraved rectangular cut cornered cartouche encompassed with a radiating simplified floral and scrolling foliate decoration and featuring the contemporary engraved crest of a lion's head collared and erased. The further four segments bear Chinoiserie bright cut engraved Chinese symbols representing the four seasons: spring (? / chun), summer (? / xia), autumn (? / qiu) and winter (? / dong). This antique silver tea caddy retains the original hallmarked flush hinged cover; the flush hinge indicates the fine quality of this piece. The cover is encompassed with further bands of bright cut engraved decoration, reflecting the designs to the body. This impressive cover is surmounted with the original, exceptional carved wood and sterling silver pineapple...