Tea ware, also known as tea utensils or tea apparatus in ancient times. The Tang Dynasty litterateur Pi Rixiu wrote in his poem “Cpu Family Forest Pavilion” about “the sparse osmanthus shadows moving over the tea ware.” During the Song Dynasty, emperors gave “tea ware” as gifts. The Northern Song painter Wen Tong wrote in a poem, “Only with tea ware to appreciate the utmost seclusion.” In the Yuan Dynasty, the painter Wang Mian wrote in the “Flute Playing Out of the Gorge” poem, “Wine pot and tea ware on top of the boat.” Xu Ze, one of the four great painters known as the “Four Talents of Wu” during the early Ming Dynasty, wrote when inviting friends for evening tea and drinking, “Tea ware is still set up late at night; song pots are not knocked upon when sober.” It is not difficult to see that whether poets from the Tang and Song dynasties or painters from the Yuan and Ming dynasties, their writings often contain verses about “tea ware,” indicating that it is an integral part of tea culture.
Within its narrow definition, tea ware refers to tea cups, Teapots, tea bowls, tea cups, tea saucers, and tea trays used for drinking tea. Chinese tea ware is diverse in variety and elegant in shape. Besides being practical, it also has considerable artistic value, thus gaining fame both at home and abroad and being favored by tea enthusiasts through the ages.
Tang White Glazed Tea Utensils: Tea Mortar, Wind Stove, Tea Kettle, Cup with Saucer – Tang White Glazed Flower-Shaped Mouth Cup with Saucer
In the Song Dynasty, drinking tea was primarily done by point brewing, with decoction brewing as a supplement. On the basis of point brewing, activities such as tea fighting, tea division, and tea hundred games emerged. “Zhan” is what the Song people called tea bowls. Since they preferred white broth color, black-glazed bowls were especially popular during the Song Dynasty. Black-glazed bowls produced by Fujian's Jian Kiln, particularly those with hare's fur, oil drops, and partridge patterns, were the most famous. Black-glazed bowls made by the Jian Kiln with inscriptions like “For Imperial Use” or “Presented to the Imperial Court” were imperial tea wares presented to the Song royal family.
Ming Dynasty – Loose Leaf Tea – Brewing in a Pot or Bowl – Porcelain and Purple Clay
The true popularity of loose leaf tea started after the twenty-fourth year of the Hongwu era (1391) in the Ming Dynasty. These loose teas no longer needed to be ground and sieved before brewing, and their preparation methods differed from previous practices. Whether brewed in a pot or directly in a bowl, these methods were more convenient than before and restored the natural character of the tea leaves. Popular tea utensils from earlier periods, such as grinders, mills, sieves, whisks, and water pots, became obsolete. The black-glazed bowls favored in the Song Dynasty also faded from history, replaced by white porcelain from Jingdezhen. Especially the white porcelain produced during the Yongle period, which was white and dense, had a glossy glaze, and was characterized by being “as thin as paper, as white as jade, as resonant as a bell, and as clear as a mirror.” At the time, it was called “filled white,” and tea cups glazed with “filled white” were sturdily shaped and proportionally balanced.
Qing Dynasty – Loose Leaf Tea – Brewing in a Pot or Bowl – Blue-and-White Porcelain, Overglaze Enamel, and Purple Clay
The customs of drinking tea in the Qing Dynasty were similar to those of the Ming Dynasty, so tea ware was largely a continuation and development of Ming traditions. The Jingdezhen porcelain kilns in the Qing Dynasty reformed and innovated based on Ming practices. In addition to producing traditional blue-and-white, Sancai, underglaze red, Doucai, and other porcelains, new varieties such as overglaze enamel and famille rose were created.