Early European tea drinking gained popularity in the 1700s.  At first England imported its teaware from China because it was difficult to locally replicate the fine porcelain used in Chinese teaware.  The invention of the handle on a tea bowl was utilitarian and allowed the British to comfortably hold a cup of hot black tea in fine china. However, the manufacture and import of tea bowls in England continued into the 1920's  for aesthetic reasons, as they were seen as more authentically oriental than their handled cousins. 
 
This is a fine china tea bowl, made around 1790, though designs such as this would continued to have been used by the fasionable until the 1830s.  This tea bowl was made in England with a hand-painted, simple gilded design.  
 
Conditionis very good with no cracks or chips
 
Dimensions: 8cm x 5cm