Tea Sets
Mid-20th Century Polish Mid-Century Modern Tea Sets
Porcelain
2010s French Tea Sets
Earthenware
19th Century English Victorian Antique Tea Sets
Majolica
1770s English Georgian Antique Tea Sets
Pottery
Early 20th Century Chinese Qing Tea Sets
Stoneware
Mid-20th Century Polish Tea Sets
Enamel
Early 20th Century Tea Sets
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Meiji Tea Sets
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Meiji Tea Sets
Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Meiji Tea Sets
Gold
19th Century Chinese Export Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Chinese Tea Sets
Porcelain
21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Meiji Tea Sets
Gold
Mid-19th Century Chinese Qing Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Tea Sets
Porcelain
Coffee pot - W - 8"; H - 10"
Te...
19th Century French Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Tea Sets
Porcelain
Early 20th Century Chinese Qing Tea Sets
Stoneware
20th Century Japanese Japonisme Tea Sets
Gold
1920s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tea Sets
Porcelain
1820s French Empire Antique Tea Sets
Porcelain
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Tea Sets
Ceramic
1920s German Bauhaus Vintage Tea Sets
Antique, New and Vintage Tea Sets
Ready to serve high tea and brunch for your family and friends? Start with the right antique, new or vintage tea set.
Tea is a multicultural, multinational beverage and isn’t confined to any particular lifestyle or age group. It has humble beginnings, and one of its best-known origin stories places the first cups of tea in 2700 B.C. in China, where it was recognized for its medicinal properties. Jump ahead to 17th-century England, when Chinese tea began to arrive at ports in London. During the early 1800s, tea became widely affordable, and the concept of teatime took shape all over England. Today, more than 150 million people reportedly drink tea daily in the United States.
Early tea drinkers enjoyed their beverage in a bowl, and English potters eventually added a handle to the porcelain bowls so that burning your fingers became less of a teatime hazard. With the rise in the popularity of teatime, tea sets, also referred to as tea service, became a hot commodity.
During Queen Victoria’s reign, teakettles and coffeepots were added to tea services that were quite large — indeed, small baked goods were served with your drink back then, and a tea set could include many teacups and saucers, a milk pot and other accessories.
During the early 1920s, a sterling-silver full tea service and tray designed by Tiffany & Co. might include a hot-water kettle on a stand, a coffeepot, teapot, a creamer with a small lip spout, a waste bowl and a bowl for sugar, which the British were stirring into tea as early as the 18th century.
But you don’t have to limit your tea set to Victorian or Art Deco styles — shake up teatime with an artful contemporary service. If the bold porcelain cups and saucers by Italian brand Seletti are too unconventional for your otherwise subdued tea circle, find antique services on 1stDibs from Japan, France and other locales as well as vintage mid-century modern tea sets and neoclassical designs.