Vintage 1950’s Chan Chun Lan Tea TIN Hong Kong Macau Red Art Chinese Advertising

Vintage, Original c. 1950s–1960s…

Chan Chun Lan Tea Co. Ltd.

Hong Kong & Macau

Chinese Tea Tin

Wonderful original mid-century tea tin from the historic Chan Chun Lan Tea Co. (陳春蘭) of Hong Kong, featuring exceptionally colorful period lithographed decoration in red, blue, cream and gold.

The front depicts a seated Chinese scholar or gentleman drinking tea alongside a traditional pavilion and the company’s distinctive tripod-vessel trademark. The remaining panels carry extensive advertising in both English and Chinese.

Marked:

“CHAN CHUN LAN TEA CO. LTD.

CHING LAN – MACAU BRANCH

October the Fifth Street, Macau

103 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Since 1855”

Measures 6 3/4” tall x 3 5/8” wide.

Some history:

Chan Chun Lan was one of Hong Kong’s historic traditional tea merchants, founded in 1855 during the Qing dynasty. The firm’s original premises at 103 Queen’s Road Central included both its retail shop and tea-processing operation. Beginning in the 1930s, the company expanded its overseas tea trade and subsequently operated branches in Kowloon and Macau.

Period records document Chan Chun Lan at this same Queen’s Road Central address by the 1940s, and a 1955 Hong Kong newspaper advertisement promoted the company’s teas specifically as being available in decorative gift tins. Chan Chun Lan became particularly well known for traditional Chinese teas including Pu-erh and Liubao, with an important export market throughout East and Southeast Asia.

The company’s historical significance was later recognized when surviving artifacts from the original tea shop were donated to the Hong Kong Museum of History in 1996, where the historic shop was recreated for preservation and display.

CONDITION:

Excellent, vintage pre-owned condition. Well preserved example with signs of age. Rust to top. Some loss of paint to bottom of one side. Small dent to top of one side and some scratching throughout. See photos for details.

Please message for any questions, thanks.