Rington's became established as tea merchants in England at about the same time as James Dun-Waters built the Fintry Manor House, and they are still very much in the tea and coffee trade today. They are a family owned and operated business with an international clientele. We do not know if any Rington's tea reached Fintry, but we are pleased to have the porcelain tea container shown here. It is to be seen in the Dining Room china cabinet, along with some other chinaware close to the blue-and-white bowl that was featured in last month's Octagon.
The Rington's tea container is a classic example of chinoiserie', the European fascination with the art forms of the exotic Orient, and China in particular. During this year at Fintry, we were assisted by Kelly Grace Yuste, a summer student who has now moved on to further studies at UBCO. Kelly applied her extensive knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture and wrote a short paper on chinoiserie which will be available at Fintry in the near future. It is interesting to see how the whole world became involved in the spread of Chinese culture, especially the appreciation of the blue-and-white ceramic tradition. From China itself, the traders of the Silk Road brought it westward, where the Turkish potters created the Isnik wares, virtually equal to the Chinese originals. The Arab spread through northern Africa and beyond brought it to Spain, and an offshoot became the Dutch Delftware.
The English potters were quick to adapt it for their own use, and created the famous ' Willow Pattern,' also known as ' Blue Willow' (seen here on the Rington's piece). The Spanish used it themselves, and they continued the interest in making small sized ceramic tiles, the Spanish word for which is ' azulejos ' from ' azul ', meaning ' blue '. From Spain, this concept was taken to Mexico, where it flourishes in several Mexican pottery making communities. Mexico was where the circle was completed, as the Spanish merchants coming eastward from the Philippines brought original Chinese wares across the Pacific to Mexico for eventual transshipment to Spain. This heroic feat of seamanship enabled sixteenth and seventeenth Mexican households to enjoy luxury goods that were the envy of Europe, and incidentally to put the Hawaiian Islands on the map two hundred years before Captain Cook arrived on the island of Kauai in 1778. (Los Volcanes, the volcanoes, are shown in the central north Pacific on the Abraham Ortelius map, dated 1570).
Article originally published in the The Octagon, October 2024 - Click to read: THE OCTAGON
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