Handmade Arts & Crafts sterling silver tea strainer

Stylish sterling silver tea strainer in a classic Arts & Crafts style for which Liberty & Co is so famous. This unusual handmade strainer features a wide rim decorated with a pretty diamond pattern band, rope-work design and geometric patterns in the thumbpiece.

Loose tea is so superior to the teabag and deserving of a silver tea strainer. The pierced bowl captures the loose tea leaves as you pour tea from the teapot, and the stand catches the drips when the strainer is returned to the stand. Sit back and savour a real cup of tea.

Documentation of tea strainers appears in ancient history, but it was the arrival and rise in popularity of loose-leaf tea in 17th-century Europe when they evolved from simple pierced bowls to ornate, decorative silver tea accessories for the wealthy, with designs varying from basket-shaped to those with stands, reflecting changing fashions and the ever-increasing pleasure in the ritual of tea drinking.

The Arts & Crafts movement emerged from a disenchantment with the impersonal, mechanised direction of society in the 19th century, and sought to return to a simpler, more fulfilling way of living. The movement was admired for its use of high quality materials and for its emphasis on utility in design.