Louis Philippe period tea box in rosewood and lemon tree.Two porcelain flasks from old Paris.27 / 12,8 / 14,5 cmThe liquor cellars or the tea boxes are small masterpieces of meticulousness and ingenuity that have not always been perceived as simple decorative objects. At the end of the 18th century, the first liquor cellars made it possible to pass the time pleasantly during long carriage trips. In 1840 the nascent bourgeoisie, consumers to excess, discovering the joys of luxury and decoration, thanks to a very favorable environment and social, could not but favor the emergence of refined objects such as liquor cellars, tea boxes, cigar cellars. History would have it that it was George Sand who launched the fashion in the nineteenth century...It was under the Empire that the liquor cellars took off. Until the Restoration, the shapes were sober and rigorous and the mahogany boxes included small marquetry patterns. Amateurs bought them in the shops of the Royal Palace. Some craftsmen pushed the refinement to the extreme, the most daring concentrated their efforts on the interior of the liquor cellars, provided with eight, twelve, sixteen or thirty-two square-section flasks, blown and gilded with most often two glasses. Crystal from Creusot, Saint-Louis, Clichy, Sevres, Pantin or Baccarat molded, engraved, acid-worked, sandblasted, diamond-tipped, twisted, gilded with fine gold...The inventiveness was limitless!In the years 1835 / 1840 the fashion of colored crystal, imported from Bohemia, came to enrich the existing offer. The July monarchy and the advent of the great liberal bourgeoisie made it an essential object, to the point of coming the typical wedding gift of the French family. Quickly the aristocratic and financial elite, at the origin of the multiplication of decorative objects, exploded the demand for liquor cellars. This rapid success led to a multiplication of models.The largest manufacturer in the 19th century was called Tahan; from 1844 to 1879 its factories supplied the Court, from 1845 the Royal Court, then Imperial from 1855.

Width 27 cm

Height 14 cm

Depth 12 cm