Tea Party Diva - Life & Craft

Lady at the Tea Table was painted by American artist, Mary Cassatt in 1885. She was the only woman in the inner circle of the Impressionist movement.

Cassatt is best known for her paintings of women and children going about their everyday tasks.

Cassatt’s Paintings Featuring Tea

It is not surprising, given the era and Cassatt’s interest in observing and capturing the day to day social and work life around her, that the ritual of tea and getting together with others would be reflected in her art.

As well as Lady at the Tea Table tea also features in Cassatt’s Five O’Clock Tea and Cup of Tea. The latter is also known as Portrait of Lydia.

The Story Behind The Japanese Tea Service
The Japanese porcelain tea service in the painting, (shown in close up below) was a gift to Mary. Mrs Moore’s other daughter, Annie had brought it from London.

Mrs Moore’s portrait was painted as a thank you for the elegant Japanese tea set. The fine quality of the blue and white tea service, with its gold trim, gives an indication of the social standing of the family.

Close up view of the Japanese tea set service from Lady at the Tea Table

Who Was the Lady at the Tea Table?

What I find interesting about the Lady at the Tea Table painting is that we know a little bit about the tea set and the subject, so there is a sense of connection and story.

Mrs Robert Moore Riddle was Mary Cassatt’s mother’s cousin. The two families were very close, and like Mary, lived for a time in Paris.

Mrs Moore’s clothes and elegant jewellery indicate a refined woman. Note the long painted fingernails in the close up of the Japanese tea set below. The no nonsense tone of the painting is similar to the serious looking photographs of the time.

The Gossip About Lady At The Tea Table

Bessie, one of Mrs Riddle’s daughters, also in Europe at the time, was not happy with the size of her mother’s nose in the portrait. In fact, she claimed it was not her mother’s likeness at all. Mrs Riddle did not appear offended, as she continued her friendship with Mary.

Mary Cassatt’s Technique

As in Five O’Clock Tea, Lady at the Tea Table, has a partial view of a painting on the wall . This technique can be found in many of Cassatt’s paintings. She sets the context and ambience, but retains the focus on the people and what they are doing.

Where You Can See The Lady At The Tea Table Painting

Cassatt kept the painting, despite offers from collectors and museums to buy it. When it became much sought after, Bessie, the daughter of the painting’s subject, tried to claim it, but Mary Cassatt quashed this idea.

In an essay by Nancy Mowll Mathews, Cassatt is reported to have said “On no account shall Bessie Fisher ever own it. She sent me the most decided messages regretting that there was so little likeness to her mother”.

In 1923, Mary Cassatt donated Lady at the Tea Table to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Lady at the Tea Table is oil on canvas - 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61 cm)

Tea in Art, Teapots & China, Times Past