The Significance of Yixing Teaware in Chinese Tea Art the Emperor and the Teapot
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF YIXING TEAWARE IN CHINESE TEA ART 中國茶藝術之宜興茶具的含意 Understanding the importance of Yixingware is a great place to start steeping in the depth of this amazing art. No teaware has held such a long-standing and profound relationship to tea as Yixingware. There is a tremendously vast heritage of skill that goes into producing Yixingware, spanning many disciplines and centuries, and an equally rich culture on the side of Chajin. Let’s explore the reasons why! 茶人: Li Guang Chung here is no other ceramic art water temperature, but in several dif- even the artistic quality of the various T quite like Yixing teaware. Its ferent kinds of teapots: a polycarbon- accoutrements used in the tea ceremo- birth coincided with a historic ate teapot, glass teapot and an Yixing ny that had started in the Tang Dynas- change in Chinese tea culture, when teapot, for example. On two separate ty. brewing teas in powdered form was occasions, I conducted this very ex- Sometime during the Ming Dynas- replaced by whole leaves. A new kind of periment for a teahouse staff in Hous- ty (1368–1644), tea art would, in most pot was required, and the lovers of tea, ton, as part of their training. More ways, reach its modern expression— even centuries ago, wanted something than 80% of the people found the tea using whole leaves steeped in ceramic that would enhance their tea in flavor brewed in the Yixing teapot to have a teapots. Realizing that too much effort and beauty. Purple-sand clay pots from better flavor and aroma. Even in func- and domestic labor was being wasted the now-legendary town of Yixing tion alone, Yixing teaware has made a on the production of powdered teas to would find a way to satisfy tea lovers permanent mark on the history of tea satisfy the need of government officers on both these levels of appreciation. culture. and royalty, the emperor abolished the In fact, finding a way to balance the tradition of making tribute tea cakes elegance and utility of a teapot would from powder in 1391. He further for- become the very standard against The Birth of Yixingware bade production of any compressed which teapots would be weighed and cakes and changed the powdered tea valued. Few other kinds of ceramic art Drinking tea has always been an in- culture of the previous dynasties to have perfected this juxtaposition of the tegral part of life in China. In ancient whole tea leaves. Consequently, all the practical and aesthetic; and few genres times, before the Tang Dynasty (618– teaware formerly used to prepare pow- of ceramic art have reached such a pro- 907), tea was predominantly thought dered teas quickly became obsolete. found depth and complexity of clay of as a medicinal beverage. It was a This revolution in tea culture would processing, craftsmanship, style and part of the herbal pharmacopeia of make Chinese craftsmen and artisans functional design. Furthermore, Yix- healers. In other places, tea was simply reconsider teaware, focusing now on ing teaware has always been enjoyed a thirst-quenching beverage, or even a the creation of teapots in which to by people from the whole spectrum of kind of dietary supplement or vegeta- steep tea leaves. social classes. The court used elegant ble drink. It was sometime between the The earliest record of teaware pro- Yixing pots to brew its tribute teas; and Tang and Song (960–1279) dynasties duction in Yixing (formerly called Yan then, like today, one could stroll down that tea grew into a kind of cultural Xian) can be traced to the Song Dy- the city streets of China, Hong Kong, art. Before then, there was no special nasty. Early potters in Yixing used the Taiwan or other places where Chinese teaware designed to enhance the con- skills they had learned from making live, and see groups of people sitting sumption of tea. However, during the household wares such as urns and vas- around, pouring tea from these small Tang Dynasty, tea drinking started to es to begin making teapots. It was not pots. The legacy of Yixing has, in many become popular among scholars, Bud- until the period of the Ming Emperor ways, become part of the story of tea dhist monks and Daoist priests. This Zheng De (1505–1521) that Yixing itself, and their marriage is as perfect as new spiritual and aesthetic approach to teapots were elevated into an art form. any could be. Many Chinese tea lovers tea would lead to a refinement of the Most histories relate this proliferation would find it hard to imagine a great process, including the whole practice to the celebrated figure of Gong Chun. tea without an Yixing pot to steep it in. of making tea powder and its compli- Gong Chun was the humble servant Some tea drinkers view teapots as cated brewing. New kinds of teaware, of a government officer, so little is nothing more than a vessel in which such as wheel grinders to grind the tea known about his background. Many to steep tea, and yet, even these more into powder, bamboo sieves, storage versions of the story tell of a business practical people will find enjoyment in containers and tea bowls started to ap- trip he took with his master. Along the the world of Yixing. One of my favor- pear. Song Dynasty tea culture would way, he met an old monk in Jin Sha ite experiments is to brew the same tea, then continue to cultivate the same tea Temple. The monk was also a potter, in the same amount, using the same method, improving techniques and crafting teapots for the tea he drank. 30 Yixing Teaware Gong Chun was intrigued by the way and all of them have the unique char- ter potter” have always been different the monk refined the clays and made acteristic of being completely lead-free, professions. Although a master potter such “admirable teapots.” He used all which allows potters to make unglazed may enjoy more fame and wealth, a his spare time to learn from the monk, pots that can be used for daily con- clay master is always regarded with the and made teapots by hollowing out a sumption. Unglazed clay offers a po- highest esteem. A well-known collec- glob of clay with a spoon, and then us- rous surface that can absorb the flavor tor once said that his love for Yixing ing his bare hands to form the shape of tea over time, a process collectors started with the appreciation of Yixing of the pot. One day, his master saw call “seasoning” the teapot. The spec- clays grew with the exploration of Yix- his work and liked it so much that trum of colors and composition avail- ing clays and was ultimately fulfilled he asked Gong Chun to make sever- able in Yixing ore is amazing. Yixing with an understanding of Yixing clays. al more. He gave them to his friends. is truly blessed to have these various There has always been an intimacy Within a few years, his works were so types of clay, all of which are nonpa- between Yixing teapots and collectors famous that he finally left his master reil in their superb workability, refined that few other forms of ceramic art and earned a living just by producing texture and naturally beautiful colors. can even approach. Its function as a teapots. Gong Chun’s work, and finan- Clays with a low shrinkage rate, such teaware invites the collector to vis- cial success, inspired other local potters as zisha and duanni, allow the pot- it his or her favorite pieces regularly, in Yixing. More and more teapots of ters’ imagination to run wild, crafting handling and using them to enhance different shapes, clay compositions teapots of different sizes, shapes and the tea he or she also loves. Since the and sizes were produced, and a fashion styles, but with the same precision that time of Gong Chun, collectors have of collecting quickly formed among generations of skill have honed. Clays not only paid top-dollar in the pursuit the upper class and literati. with a very high shrinkage rate, such of high-quality Yixing teapots, many as zhuni, produce teapots of relatively have, in fact, participated in the design small size and simple shape, but with and creation of Yixing teaware. This Yixingware & Tea Lovers such ravishingly soft and jade-like tex- fashion reached its peak in the middle ture that they are often the most valu- of the Qing Dynasty, and the most Much of what makes Yixing teaware able. Without these special clays, Yix- significant and influential Yixing lov- so special lies in the constitution of the ing teaware would never have reached er at that time was Chen Meng Shen unique clay ore that is mined there. such a noble and distinctive status. (1768 –1822). Chen was not a pot- Many kinds of ore are found in Yixing, In Yixing, “clay master” and “mas- ter. He was a local government officer, 31/ The Significance of Yixing Teaware in Chinese Tea Art The Emperor and the Teapot hey say the great Emperor that it is covered with brush, and T Qianlong treasured tea enough only discernible to the true mountain that he brewed it in secret with his man. He lost himself in its splendor, own august hands, though the son and lost touch with time as well. After 兩 of the gods was forbidden such some indeterminate number of cups, mundane activities. He also loved to he looked into the old man’s eyes leave the Forbidden City in secret, and realized that there was a great basking in the glory of ordinariness.