Chinese Pewter Tea Wares (/rh v~ ~[< . ~l.()hj!t, "'~ BENNET BRONSON and HO CHUIMEI V:;1 I ~ ;J'J b I ~e> ...../ J)t C 0& FJ -f A shorter version of this article appeared in the Bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History (March, 1988). All photographs are by the museum's chief photographer, Ran Testa . 0 rEA WARES have been dIscussed among either collected by Laufer himself in Sian, that pewter containers were already widely erious tea drinkers since the middle of the Ch'eng-tu and Shanghai in 1908-19lO and used for storing dry tea leaves during the :ighth century A.D., when Lu Yu wrote his 1921-1922 or donated by other individuals. late Sung (960-1276) period. :lassic Canon 0] Tea. In Lu's time there was Together they form a solid representation of By the middle Ming (1368-1644) period, \ ,lready dispute about the best material and seventeenth to nineteenth century Chinese pewter was used for teapots as well. It was arm for tea utensils, and these topics have pewter wares. preferred to ceramics in that role by a :ontinued to attract controversy down to The article will not, incidentally, be too number of important tea authorities: by he present day. Orthodox opinion currently strict about the definition of pewter. Only Ch'ien Ch'un-nien in the 1540s, and by Hsu lolds that the earthenware ofI-hsing is ideal three pieces in the Field Museum Collection Tz'u-yu, in his often-quoted Memorial on or many sorts of tea wares, especially tea­ have been chemically tested. One, a Han Tea, in 1597. However, the metal was not lotS. But this was not always so. Irifluential (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) burial deed with an in­ accepted without challenge. Other author­ ea ' specialists of the past often preferred scriptiondated to A.D. 85, proved to con­ ities had a definite dislike of pewter pots. uch materials as porcelain, precious metals, tain eighty per cent lead and twenty per For instance, T'u Lung in 1590 wrote that Ir even pewter. , cent tin. The other two pieces, both of nine­ metal teapots, including bronze, iron, lead This article focuses on the last and per­ teenth century date, consisted mainly of tin and pewter, added a bitter, fishy smell to laps most surprising of these materi~ls . Pew­ with only a trace of lead. Judging from the tea. Interestingly, Hsu Tz'u-yu preferred his er is an alloy of tin and lead. It is therefore variety of patina colours on pieces that were tea kettles and pots to be made of pewter, loisonous. Yet it was extensively used over a not tested, the remainder of the collection precisely because, unlike earthenware, these '~~: ., ather long period for making not only tea will turn out to be quite variable in composi­ did not add an objectionable smell. torage containers-a role in which its toxic tion. Yet they are silver-grey in tone (and In spite of dissenting opinions, the late lualities might be unimportant-but also thus contain little or no copper), quite soft sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries eapots and kettles, where heat and tannic (and so not nickel or zinc alloys), non­ seem to have been a time of general popu- ',' ,cid would be bound to extract significant magnetic (and so not iron) and neither very larity for pewter in connection with tea. The mounts of lead into the prepared tea. The white when clean nor dark grey-black when kinds of pewter utensils recommended sepa- g~ ;sue of lead toxicity will 'not be discussed corroded (and so not silver) . Moreover, few rately by tea writers of this period would lrther here except to say that it rarely if if any are soft enough to be composed oflead have made up a fairly complete set of con- ' ver entered into debates about the merits alone. This leaves either pure tin or an alloy temporary tea wares: large storage caddies f various tea ware materials. Few connois­ of tin with lead. It seems best to follow tradi­ (kuan and t'an ), dippers (p'iao) for drawing ~urs of tea seem to have been aware that tional Chinese usage in employing the same water from jars, kettles (t'iao) for boiling ." he presence of lead posed potential health term for both. "Pewter" as used here should water, small serving caddies (he) for mod- :," lroblems. Lest it be concluded that those therefore be understood as a translation of erate amounts of tea leaves, water pots onnoisseurs were strangely ignorant, we the Chinese hsi or hsi-ch'i, a metal that may (t'ang-p'ing) for holding boiling water and, hould recall that wine fanciers in Western be mostly tin but that in general contains a teapots (hu) for actually brewing the tea. We ountries still make extensive use of high­ substantial admixture of lead, which in know the names of three pewter artists of " ~ad "crystal" glassware. Connoisseurship China as elsewhere has always been a much about that time who were renowned for , ' ,.~, nd technological knowledge do not go less costly metal. their teapots: Chao Liang-p'i, Huang Yuan~ ', ( and in hand, either in China or the West. Pewter first appears in connection with chi and Kui Mao-te, all natives of Kiangsu:::, :' The pieces to be described here come from tea in the middle of the thirteenth century, province. Unfortunately, none of their work>;: he collection of the Field Museum of Nat­ when Chao Hsi-ku, a member of the Im­ appears to have survived. " ,; :" ral History in Chicago, which-with about perial family who was also a noted expert on Not many other Ming tea wares in pewter "-: ;' wo hundred items- probably has more antiques, commented: have survived either. The world's museums :" ­ ;hinese pewter than any other museum contain ~ery few examples that can be::,,',' : "The nature of tea leaves is not in har­ 1 North America. About three-quarters firmly dated to that period. One or two cad ~ " " : mony with that of ceramic or bronze f these were donated by E.E. Aye!', who dies in the Field Museum Collection could '," jars. They only go well with pewter. cquired them during the 1920s, with the possibly be attributed to the seventeenth :,,;~ But be careful not to use jars with holes dvice of the great si nolo gist Berthold Lau­ century on a stylistic basis (Figure 1) , and ::;... , that can leak air. The containers should !r, from S.H. Mori, a Chicago-based affil­ various Japanese and Western enthusiasts- ~ , be repeatedly tested before use." lte of the Yamanaka Company, one of the have believed strongly in a Ming dating for '.J, !ading Oriental art dealers of the day. The All of Chao's contemporaries might not individual pieces in their collections. How- :: , ~st of the pewter pieces in the museum were have agreed; but his comment does show ever, convincing identifications will have to,:,': " ."\ . 16 s Figure 1 Tea caddy with octagonal body . Pewter and applied brass. The lid is single­ walled. The characters on the neck form a proverb: "The family that accumulates virtue will have ample fortune". The panels on the upper body depict amusements· of the literati. Those near the base depict foreigners- Central Asians, one . possible European- in comic poses. Two incised characters on the bottom read" Liang Chi", probably the name of a shop. Querall height 45 ems. Chinese, perhaps 17th- 18th century Figure 2 Hybrid teapot with overhead handle Pewter exterior, earthenware lining and jade fittings. Engraved with orchid leaves on one side and on the other a poem in praise of tea signed by the calligrapher, Po-ya [chu J. The lining has the seal of Shih-mei. Body diameter 11.5 ems. Made at I-hsing, circa 1820-1830 Figure 1 Seal of Figure 2 Figure 2 Figure 3 Hybrid teapot in lute form Pewter exterior, earthenware lining and jade fittings . The lining bears the seal of Fan Shu-tseng. One side is engraved with a man in scholar's robes playing a lute under a banana tree. The other side bears a carved inscription copying a Chin bronze with a cyclical date corresponding to A.D. 282; the signature of the calligrapher, Fu-sheng, also has a cyclical date, equivalent to A .D. 1835. Body height 12 ems. Made at I-hsing, A.D. 1835 Figure 4 Hybrid teapot in pumpkin form Pewter exterior, earthenware lining and jade fittings . The seal of the potter, Yang P'eng-nien, is on the lining. One side is engraved with a }lowering plum branch and the other with an inscription on the virtues of tea signed by Chu Yin, whose signature also appears on the jade handle. Diameter 10 ems. Made at I-hsing, 1820s Figure 5 Hybrid teapot in bamboo form Pewter exterior, earthenware lining and jade fittings. Engraved with plum blossoms on one side and an inscription about tea drinking on the other, with the signature of Shih-mei. A clay seal on the lining reads "Made by Yang P'eng-nien" . The calligrapher and the potter are both well known figures in the history of I-hsing ware. Body height 6 ems. Made at I-hsing, 1820s Seal of Figure 5 Figure 5 J08 rait until the contents of the many recent Their shapes are attractive, simple and quite artists like Yang P'eng-nien and Shih-mei". xcavations of Ming tombs become avail­ close to those of all-earthenware I-hsing Whether Shih-mei and his fellow pot­ ble for study.