
Tea caddy with four-lobed body, stands on four feet, covered with a cylindrical, double-walled lid. It is made of pewter covered with a brown copper coating. The exterior body is engraved with inscriptions in archaic script on one side and on the opposite a poem praising tea, signed by the poet/calligrapher, 'Xue shu chu xie'; alternating between them are lotus spray and bamboo. A maker's mark is impressed in square seal on the base: 'Chaoyang' (name of the district), 'zhi he lao dian' (a shop's name). Next to it is an impressed ovoid seal which reads 'dian tong', which means embellished with copper. The lid of the tea caddy is of cylindrical form and is double-walled. It is made of pewter covered with a brown copper coating.