Thomas Jeckyll trained as an architect and was active, both as an architect and designer, in London and Norfolk. He excelled in the creation of metalwork and furniture that were strongly influenced by Japanese design. His brother Henry was a brass founder in Dudley. The flat planes and schematic design of this kettle stand are indicative of Japanese design. The barley represents summer but it could also suggest heat.

In the 1860s he came into contact with James Abbot McNeil Whistler (1834-1903) and E. W. Godwin (1833-1886). By the 1870s, Jeckyll was one of the leading architects of the Aesthetic Movement and also a pioneer of Japonaiserie. He designed an interior for the Holland Park house of the collector, Alexander Ionides (1833-1900) (who bequeathed much of his collection of paintings to the V&A) and the dining room of a house in Princes Gate. During this project, Jeckyll's behaviour had become quite erratic, and in his absence, Whistler took over the decorating. Due to this later painted decoration by Whistler, the room became known as the Peacock Room, and is on display in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington, D.C. Jeckyll’s mentally instability in 1877 marked the end of his career and he died in an asylum in 1881.