Room 52b: Spitalfields Silks & Taking Tea
Dress fabric, England, about 1733. Museum no. T.837-1974
This room has an interesting combination of objects relating to tea-drinking in the mid 17th century as well as the development of silk-weaving in Spitalfields, London. New furniture and equipment for tea-drinking were initially copies of Chinese designs and decoration but many original English designs soon developed. Spitalfields weavers produced plain and patterned fabrics, with new designs every season. Dress silks were woven in limited lengths to preserve their exclusivity. The designs though influenced by French fashions soon developed a distinctive English style characterised by naturalism and clarity in design and colouring.
Room 52b is on Level 2 of the V&A South Kensington.
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Tea: East and West
This evocatively illustrated book tells the story of tea around the world, and celebrates its contribution, past and present, to civilized existence.
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Fri 01 October 2010–Fri 13 July 2012
LIVE MUSIC: Free concerts by musicians from the Royal College of Music are performed on selected Friday evenings in the beautiful setting of the Norfolk House Music Room, from 18.30 – 19.30.
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