A GEORGE II MULBERRY TEA CADDY
A GEORGE II MULBERRY TEA CADDY
A GEORGE II MULBERRY TEA CADDY
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A SHAKESPEARE COMMEMORATIVE TEA CADDY BY GEORGE COOPER THE PROPERTY OF AN ESTATE
A GEORGE II MULBERRY TEA CADDY

BY GEORGE COOPER, 1760

Details
A GEORGE II MULBERRY TEA CADDY
BY GEORGE COOPER, 1760
The hinged lid carved with mulberry branches and centred by the Shakespeare coat-of-arms, sloping with trellis panels, above strapwork and stippled sides, the front with an arched niche bearing a bust of William Shakespeare, enclosing three removable compartments each with a sliding lid carved with mulberry fruits, signed and dated, 'GEORGE COOPER * STRATFORD * UPON * AVON MAKER * / 1760', minor losses
6 in. (15 cm.) high; 10¼ in. (26 cm.) wide; 5½ in. (14 cm.) deep
Literature
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Edward Pinto. Treen and Other Wooden Byegones, 1967, pp. 296 - 7.
Robert Bearman, 'Sharp Practice', Focus, June 1981, pp. 26-27.
Gillian Walkling, Tea Caddies, 1985, fig. 62.
Adam Bowett, Woods in British Furniture-Making 1400 - 1900, Kew, 2012, pp. 157 - 158, and p. 159, M55.

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Celia Harvey
Celia Harvey

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Lot Essay

This tea caddy is a fine example of the many souvenirs made from the mulberry tree which grew in William Shakespeare's garden at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.
The tree was felled in 1756 by the then owner, the Rev. Francis Gastrell, and sold to local woodworkers, among them George Cooper (b.1720). Three years later Gastrell pulled down New Place itself in a dispute over taxes. The antiquarian John Jordon recorded that Cooper was a 'poor joiner of Stratford, whose curiosity excited him to work with what little he was able to purchase into toys, such as tea chests, boxes and tobacco-stoppers etc., some of which were prettily carved' (A. Bowett, Woods in British Furniture-Making 1400 - 1900 Kew, 2012, p.158).
A box made from the wood in 1769 and presented to the Shakespearean actor David Garrick is now in the collection of the British Museum, while a medallion, presented to Garrick in the same year, is in the collection of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
A silvered metal-mounted mulberry wood tea caddy by Cooper commemorating Shakespeare, signed and dated 1759, was sold from the Prescott Collection, Christie's, New York, 31 January 1981, lot 74 ($7,150 including premium), and is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Another, closely related in form to the present lot, was sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 24 November, 2009, lot 353 ($20,625 including premium).

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