Tea 15 - 1786

Curator: Thomas Rowlandson, born in 1756, etched this print, titled "Tea." What strikes you first about this scene? Editor: The material reality of it all! Look at the density of the lines in the etching, all these figures are so crowded. It feels claustrophobic. Curator: Yes, it’s quite dense! Tea, as a ritual, carries its own symbolic weight, often linked to domesticity and social exchange. Rowlandson seems to be playing with that expectation here. Editor: Considering the context, the rise of tea consumption among the British elite, do you think Rowlandson is critiquing the material excess and the social performances tied to it? Curator: Quite possibly, the composition seems to invite that reading! The figures are rendered almost grotesquely, as if the tea ritual has become a sort of grotesque performance, detached from genuine connection. Editor: Interesting! Perhaps the print highlights how the rituals can obscure authentic human interactions when labor, materiality, and consumption collide. Curator: Absolutely, it encourages us to consider the social and symbolic dimensions embedded in everyday objects and practices. Editor: A small print that provides so much food for thought.