Antique Chinese Tea Tray Care - Need Help Please!
Last year on a family holiday we found a quaint antique shop that had all sorts of wonderful treasures in it. In the window one thing caught my eye and made my heart stop, a gorgeous wooden tea tray with two dragons carved on it. I popped into the shop to try and peek at the price but when I saw it was £300 I pulled a face and walked away with the knowledge that I would never be able to afford it.
Well when it comes to this years Christmas and I’m opening my presents there before me is this wonderful tea tray. It turns out that my mother had noticed my interest in the piece and bought it behind my back. She said that my face lit up when I looked at it and it was meant to be mine.
Now comes the care of the piece, honestly I have no idea how to look after this tray. I know the wood is Teak and it’s from the Qing period (1860-1880) thanks to the information that came with it. But how do I look after the teak? I don’t want to destroy it but I would like to use it as a tea tray for special occasions. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have a picture of my tray here:
http://tinypic.com/r/bjhaw3/5
That is a beautiful tray! I have no good advice based on retaking but I do have a few suggestions.
I think the biggest hazard to teak wood is change in humidity, so it is important to try to keep the humidity constant (ie don’t be flying it all around the Caribbean and then back home). In order to help prevent cracks and drying out you could use an oil on it once a year. I do not know specifically about teak, but I have used linseed oil on carved wooden canes before. You should be able to do a bit of product research to find something designed for teak.
Thank you Lala for your comment.
I have read to oil the wood but I’m not sure about using the tray as such. If I use silk coasters and make sure not to spill any tea will it still leave ring marks? What happens if I do spill water onto it? So many questions…I need a teak tea tray expert. (Now would be a good time for someone to join the conversation and surprise us with some knowledge).
Does the tray have any type of coating on it, like varnish or wax? Or is it straight plain, unprotected wood? If there is a coating on it, you should be ok if you spill then wipe up the tea. But if it is unprotected wood, then it will soak up any liquids pretty quick.
From what I can gather it may have some varnish on it, or some sort of oil. But whatever it had on it has long degraded over the years. Perhaps I should just try some natural oil and see how it goes.
That’s lush! I’d personally keep its natural patina and not try and protect or coat it in anything. Having said that I’d be inclined to lay down a lovely piece of fabric in the centre or use coasters and keep a cloth handy for wiping up spills.
Ultimately its a tray though and IMO although its lovely, its not quite complete without being used. So enjoy it, use it and if a bit of tea patinas the tray then so be it. It will age with the history of your usage!
I hear you, it’s a tea tray and should be honoured as such. It seems wasteful to have such a wonderful tray if it doesn’t actually get used. It already has scratches and a little damage to it but I love that about it, it’s heavily used already due to it’s age and I bet every mark has a story. I want the tray to tell my stories.
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