Manuscript Recipe Books as Archaeological Objects by Shanahan Madeline;

Author:Shanahan, Madeline;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books

Figure 4.2 Trade Card from the British Museum, Banks Collection, box 7, card 68.60. Depicts stereotypical Chinese man and tea caddies. Source: Courtesy of the British Library.

My Tea Kettle

The hour of Six is drawing near,

My table now I quickly clear

For you and Anne with smiles appears

My Tea Kettle

And well your brightened looks betray,

She guesses what will make me gay

And drive ‘les esprits’ away

My Tea Kettle

Some think the Braham’s voice divine,

To Calalari some incline

But me no singing charms like thine

My Tea Kettle

Let Wine the high born crowd inspire,

And punch content the vulgar squire,

Thy fumes alone will I require

My Tea Kettle

That shrub, the Chinese empires boast,

Which home we bring with so much cost,

Without thee would be worse than lost,

My Tea Kettle

And could the great Red Button Hoo,

But taste the good it draws from you,

He’d scruple not to make Koo Too

My Tea Kettle

Then Since so many charms I find,

That fortune has to you assigned

In weal and woe I will be kind

My Tea Kettle

(Excerpt from Ms 7237)

The poem is accompanied by a series of illustrations depicting tea being made and consumed, among other subjects. Two of these illustrations, which accompany the fifth and sixth stanzas, employ similar imagery to these trade cards studied by Bickham. A Chinese man in traditional dress is seen puffing away at his pipe as he carries tea caddies covered in mock Chinese characters (Figure 4.3). The other image shows a Chinese man with a thin “pig tail” praying before the celebrated tea kettle with exotic temples in the background (Figure 4.4).

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