Tea

Tea of 1872, on panel at the Metropolitan Museum, is one of Tissot's quintessential social genre scenes, depicting the ritual of afternoon tea — that distinctly English social institution — as a vehicle for the observation of modern life and social interaction. The taking of tea was a specifically gendered social ritual in Victorian England, associated primarily with women, domestic space, and the particular social dynamics of afternoon visiting. Tissot brought his French outsider's eye to this English custom, observing its social choreography with the same detached but deeply engaged attention he gave to naval balls, garden parties, and country houses. The Metropolitan's small panel captures an intimate interior scene that shows his ability to distil the social world of the 1870s into a compact, precisely observed image.

Oil on panel, the intimate scale of the support encourages a compact, concentrated composition. Tissot's handling of interior light on porcelain, silver, and fabric achieves the material richness of a scene defined by the beautiful objects associated with the tea ritual. The small format requires economy of means without sacrificing the observational precision that characterises his work.