Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was one of the first British artists to respond to Japanese design by showing that it has connections with other styles, removing barriers between Western and Oriental art. He encouraged the study of Japanese art which ultimately contributed to the demise of historicism and to the modernisation of art in the West. In 1876-1877 he toured Japan at the Japanese government's invitation, which was the first visit by a European designer since the opening of the country in 1854. In 1882 he recounted his experience in a book Japan: its architecture, art and art manufacturers, which recounted this experience. The first half is a travelogue of Dresser's time in Japan, written with a designer's eye for the architecture and decoration around him and the second half, covers the various ways in which design and decoration were used in the manufacturing industries and their symbolic values. This provided a great source of inspiration to the Japonism movement and remains an invaluable resource for the student of Japanese art and design.

Christopher Dresser started working with Elkington and Company in the 1860s experimenting with champlevé and cloisonné techniques as well as with Japanese style metalworking techniques. Elkingtons were probably the first English makers to produce adaptations of Japanese designs making use of Komai patterns in a number of pieces.
A similar tea set in the Komai pattern sold in the 20th Century Decorative Arts & Design sale, Christie's, London, 20 April 2011, lot 131 (£43,250).