An English Family at Tea
- Artist: Joseph Van Aken
- Date: c.1720
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 994 x 1162 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “An English Family at Tea” by Joseph Van Aken, painted around 1720 in oil on canvas. The scene captures a quintessential 18th‑century tea gathering, a ritual that was far more than a simple refreshment. Tea was a luxury, its leaves wrapped in a bright blue caddy in the foreground, kept locked by the lady of the house who is seen pouring it into a silver pot. Behind her, a gentleman, a maidservant, and a small family converse around a polished tea table, porcelain cups, and an elegant bronze Bacchus statue—a nod to classical taste and the genteel leisure of the upper class.
The composition is a conversation piece, a realistic portrayal of social interaction. Costumes and silverware reflect the Queen Anne style, indicating the period’s fashion. Yet the painting also hints at a darker side: sugar that sweetened the bitter brew came from Caribbean colonies, produced by enslaved Africans. Thus, the act of drinking tea was not only a display of wealth and domesticity but also a symbol of civilised behaviour for white Europeans, tied to colonial exploitation.
Van Aken’s brushwork gives the scene a lively, almost candid quality, while the careful rendering of light and texture makes the domestic setting feel immediate and intimate. The painting invites viewers to consider how a simple cup of tea can reveal the social hierarchies and economic underpinnings of its time.
See it in person
An English Family at Tea is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
