Depicted in this Tea Tea Jar:
 
Known in China since at least the 9th century BC, and beloved of Chinese artists and poets, the tree peony was considered ‘the king of flowers’ and associated with the imperial family, who as early as the Tang dynasty (618-907) grew it in the palace gardens.  It is known as the flower of ‘wealth and honour’, and was traditionally a token of love and exchanged as a farewell gift.
 
The crab apple (海棠花 haitang hua) could be combined with other emblems to create auspicious rebuses. Its second character, 棠 tang, provides a rebus for 堂 tang, meaning hall, and, by extension, ‘the family home’. Crab-apple flowers and peonies are sometimes combined to suggest the phrase 滿堂富貴 mantang fugui: ‘May the whole family achieve wealth and honour’.
 
Both are dipected in the Tea Jar 
 
When first introduced to Europe from Asia, tea was extremely expensive, and kept under lock and key. The containers used were often expensive and decorative, to fit in with the rest of a drawing-room or other reception room. Hot water was carried up from the kitchen, and the tea made by the mistress of the house, or under her supervision.
 
The word is believed to be derived from catty, the Chinese pound, equal to about a pound and a third avoirdupois. The earliest examples that came to Europe were of Chinese porcelain, and approximated in shape to the ginger-jar. They had Chinese-style lids or stoppers, and were most frequently blue and white. Until about 1800 they were called tea canisters.
 
4.5L X 4.5W X 7H