Hester Bateman was head of a family of silversmiths prominent during the Georgian period. The pieces bearing her mark are great rarities. She and her family had a distinctive style that began to depart from Rococo’s ornamentation. Their designs instead looked to neo–classical restraint, such as that of the architect Robert Adam. The beading here is typical of Bateman silver, as are the delicately engraved and pierced patterning of the basket tea caddy.