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Elegant and Exquisite Tea Wares

Tea News · May 06, 2025

In the vast array of Chinese writings on Tea drinking, the character “pin” (taste and savor) is always central to the explanation of Tea drinking methods, making it into an art form.

The character “pin” is infinitely profound. First, one “pins” the tea wares. According to Lu Yu's The Classic of Tea, people in the Tang Dynasty would admire their tea wares before Drinking Tea, and they were very particular about the selection. They mostly used tea bowls, with those made by the kilns of Yuezhou being most highly recommended. Yuezhou celadon was green in color, which accentuated the green hue of the tea, and the shape was quite beautiful.

In the Song Dynasty, tea wares gradually changed to small and shallow cups called “zhans,” which were often paired with saucers. The Song people preferred black zhans, as the tea at that time was white in color, and the black provided a good contrast. Tea zhans from Fujian's Jian kiln were considered top-quality. The “Jian zhan,” also known as a Tenmoku tea bowl, was one of the eight famous Song Dynasty tea zhans. Jian zhans had an antique charm, with a lustrous black color, speckled like stars, a texture like iron, and a sound like a chime when struck. When filled with tea, the froth would rise, and the speckles would glisten, making them a masterpiece among ancient Chinese tea wares.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the method of brewing tea changed significantly, and teapots became commonly used tea wares. The appearance of teapots was a distinctive feature of the Ming Dynasty. Tang Yin's painting Tea Appreciation depicts teapots and other tea wares. Ming Dynasty porcelain tea wares from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province were renowned for their fine texture, bright colors, and vivid paintings. The book A Description of the Scenery and Customs of the Capital mentions that a pair of Cheng cups could be worth ten thousand coins.

During the Qing Dynasty, the artistry of tea wares reached its pinnacle. Small tea stoves for simmering water were described as producing “gentle smoke and a small cauldron with a long spout.” The delicate and glossy white and celadon tea cups were so lovely that one could not bear to part with them. Ancient rhinoceros horn tea bowls, such as the one mentioned in Chapter 42 of Dream of the Red Chamber as a treasured possession of the wealthy merchant Wang Kai from the Jin Dynasty, and other items like the “large cup intricately carved from a single piece of bamboo root with nine curves, twenty coils, and one hundred twenty intertwined dragons,” “blue-and-white porcelain with ghostly faces,” “green jade cups,” “carved lacquer tea trays filled with gold inlaid cloud dragons offering longevity,” and Chenghua kiln “five-colored small covered cups,” as well as “official kiln porcelain covered bowls with white fillings” were not just antiques but artistic treasures.

When refined scholars gathered for a tea tasting, they would enjoy the sound of pines and the sight of bamboo around a stove, calling out to each other while holding their teapots. Elegant tea wares adorned the table, adding to the poetic ambiance as they sipped and recited verse.

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