“When a guest visits on a cold night, tea is served in place of wine, as the bamboo stove heats water to a boil with the fire just turning red.” Originating from the Chinese land, tea can be traced back to the mythical era of Shennong. Over time, tea has deeply integrated into the daily lives of the Chinese people, becoming an indispensable part of China's excellent traditional culture. By incorporating tea into paintings and using paintings to interpret tea, ancient paintings carry information about the humanities, art, aesthetics, and more from different historical periods. Using ancient tea paintings as a medium, we can explore changes in people's living conditions and tea-drinking methods across different eras, as well as the evolution of tea furniture and related decorative items, allowing us to outline the development of tea life and tea furniture.

From the legend that “Shennong tasted hundreds of Herbs, encountering seventy-two poisons in a single day, but was cured by drinking tea,” it is evident that tea initially appeared as a medicinal herb capable of detoxification. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, tea culture was still in its infancy, with a focus on primitive ways of consuming tea. There were no specialized tea furniture or utensils; all tools used were shared with daily household items. The simple murals from Han tombs and Han dynasty image bricks depict scenes of people sitting on the ground, while low couches, curved-legged tables, food trays, round tables, and other furnishings used during noble feasts are early prototypes of tea furniture.

Tea Grinding Picture (Chinese Painting) by Liu Songnian

Tea Grinding Picture (Chinese Painting – Detail) by Liu Songnian

The “Guangya,” compiled during the Three Kingdoms period, contains the earliest records of cake tea production and consumption methods: “In Jingzhou and Bazhou, leaves are picked to make cakes; when the leaves are old, the cakes are made, extracted with rice paste.” It is clear that as people gained deeper knowledge about tea cultivation, cake tea, which was easier to store, emerged. Additionally, the widespread practice of Tea drinking among monks during the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties promoted the formation of the idea of “tea and Zen as one,” along with the trend of “replacing alcohol with tea” among the nobility, both of which greatly propelled the development of tea culture. People primarily boiled tea and added salt and various condiments to create a broth, with historical records mentioning “tea porridge.” During this period, although there were no dedicated tea furniture pieces, the Hu bed from the Western Regions was introduced to China, gradually transitioning from low furniture for sitting on the ground to taller furniture. This transition left precious traces in the splendid and magnificent murals of stone grottoes.

Tang Dynasty Palace Music Picture (Chinese Painting – Detail) by Anonymous

Tang Dynasty Palace Music Picture (Chinese Painting) by Anonymous

As tea became increasingly popular across all social classes, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, people placed greater emphasis on the ritualistic aspect of tea drinking. The publication of “The Classic of Tea” by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty further propelled tea culture to an unprecedentedly prosperous period, with boiling tea becoming the primary method of consumption. In the classic tea painting “Tang Dynasty Palace Music Picture,” we can see the elegant ladies and exquisite imperial furniture, with rich coloring vividly showcasing the aesthetics of the Tang Dynasty. In the painting, palace ladies sit on elaborately carved crescent stools around a large long table, some playing flutes, others playing pipas, while delicate tea cups are placed on the table. People enjoy the wonderful time of boiling tea amidst beautiful music. Imperial tea banquets became part of the leisure and cultural life of the Tang Dynasty court, as well as a miniature representation of tea activities during the Tang Dynasty. Correspondingly, the variety and form of tea furniture also became increasingly diverse. At this time, long tables and crescent stools used for tea drinking could accommodate multiple participants, indicating that tea drinking had acquired a certain social attribute.

By the Song Dynasty, tea culture and tea aesthetics entered an extremely prosperous period influenced by the unique aesthetic style of the time. During this phase, tea drinking methods evolved from boiling tea to include a variety of methods such as point tea, tea competitions, and tea hundred games, from the imperial court to the common people, integrating fully into people's lives. At this time, tea furniture not only came in many varieties but also exhibited an elegant beauty in simplicity.

Tea Appreciation Picture (Chinese Painting) by Wen Zhengming

Tea Appreciation Picture (Chinese Painting – Detail) by Wen Zhengming

Tea grinding involves crushing dried tea cakes and then grinding them into powdered tea in a mortar. Taking “Tea Grinding Picture” painted by Liu Songnian, a Southern Song court painter, as an example, the painting not only includes incense, ink, and calligraphy but also tea brought by servants. This work meticulously depicts a tea party where literati taste tea and appreciate paintings together. The painting is divided into two areas: the tea preparation area and the tea tasting area. The large square table in the tea preparation area is used to place various tea utensils and cups required for point tea, while the tea grinding, water boiling, and other processes have corresponding furniture or supports. The tea tasting area showcases a gathering of literati tasting tea and appreciating paintings. We can see that on the square table in the tea preparation area, there are tea sieves, tea boxes for storing tea, White Tea cups, red cup holders, tea spoons, tea whisks, and more. A servant is grinding tea while sitting on a long low table, with the mortise-and-tenon structure of the table clearly visible. Beside the table, another servant is performing point tea with a slender spouted kettle. The meticulousness of point tea practiced by the Song people is reflected in the details, such as the fact that the tea stove is not placed directly on the ground but rather on a carved small table, also known as a bottle stand. The painting also features a beautifully decorated water storage jar with a lotus leaf lid, exuding a refined elegance.

In addition, different versions of “Tea Competition Pictures” vividly portray the tea-drinking lives of ordinary people. Over the centuries, the earthly stories brought by tea competitions have dissipated in the gently rising tea broth. However, the tea people carrying tea chests through streets and alleys depicted in the paintings perform colorful tea lives. Various tea chests contain different types of tea cups, kettles, and tea stoves, revealing the refinement and ritualism of tea drinking in the Song Dynasty and allowing us to feel the sentiment and passion that literati poured into tea aesthetics and tea furniture.

Hu Bed in the Northern Wei Mural from Mogao Grotto No. 257

Han Dynasty Image Brick Depicting Nobles Sitting on the Ground During Feasts

After the Southern Song Dynasty, the sophisticated point tea technique gradually faded into the vast river of history, becoming an eternal classic. During the Ming Dynasty, with the abolition of the cake tea tribute system, loose tea Rose to prominence, and the simple and