13 Eva Ströber* TEA THE CHINESE TASTE FOR TEA: YIXING TEAPOTS IN THE COLLECTION FOR OF THE PRINCESSEHOF MUSEUM, LEEUWARDEN In September 2014, the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, will open a new exhibition, dedicated to a subject that is as popular as it is sophisticated: the cultures of drinking tea. It will introducé the most important tea cultures - in China, Japan, the Netherlands and England - and the specific and most TASTE diversified ceramics used to enjoy tea. The Princessehof Museum has a collection of around 140 examples of Yixing tea wares, made of a warm, reddish stoneware specifically for brewing tea. It was a great pleasure to use the opportunity of the upcoming exhibition to take a closer look at these small and most charming pots. Many of them were made for the export market, when, starting at the end of the 17th century, tea drinking became very popular in the Netherlands and these pots began to be used, together with small Chinese blue and white CHINESE cups, on the tables of the wealthy. These teapots were often richly decorated, exclusive and expensive items, soon to be imitated by Delft ‘pottenbakers’.1 My remarks here however, will rather refer to Yixing teapots made for the Chinese market, particularly the types of small, undecorated pots, which THE would not be considered desirable by general Western aesthetic standards.2 These small pots have a very special beauty - and are a tricky subject to write about. Their shapes are not very varied, and they lack decorative clements, which makes dating difficult. Moreover, a proof of their authenticity is in most cases impossible to find: Yixing stoneware tea pots hearing the marks of famous potters are part of a history of hundreds of years of imitating, ‘working in the spirit of the old masters’, faking or falsifying - take your choice and expect more questions than answers. Yixing stoneware - material and technique What in the West is called Yixing stoneware was produced in Yixing, a town in the south-eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. The clay available in the nearby deposits had special properties which give these wares their unique character. In Chinese, these wares are aptly and collectively known as zisha (purple sand). lts high iron content, up to 9% and more, is responsible for the typical variety of colours: zisha, a purplish brown clay, banshan lu, a light buff-coloured clay, and zhusha (cinnabar sand), a cinnabar or deep orange- red clay. By mixing these clays, adding minerals or varying the firing temperature, the Yixing potters achieved a wide range of colours. Yixing clay is very fine and malleable and ideal for modeling. Even intricate shapes like globular pots are formed not on the wheel or slip cast, but by Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 04:59:06PM hand, bringing slabs of clay to the desired form. Once fired hard at a via free access 0 Fig. i Liao Shiouping (b. 1936). Album leaf with tea ware. h. 41 cm.; w. 31.5 cm., ink and colours on paper, circa 1979, private collection. Photo: Lu kas Kraemer. maximum of circa 1200 degrees, the density of the fired clay can safely hold the water for tea.3 Yixing clay does not conduct heat easily; the hot water inside the tea pot therefore stays warm and fresh for a longer time than in other ceramics. These tea pots were never washed. Old tea leaves would be removed and the pot simply rinsed in cold water. Many Yixing teapots have thereby developed a layer of tea sediment in the interior as a highly appreciated patina. What teapots were made for An ink painting by the contemporary Taiwanese artist Liao Shiouping (fig. 1) could be called a tea still life: a tiny, brownish red Yixing teapot is sitting in a bowl of hot water, used to keep the small pot warm; two white miniature teacups in front, and two tea caddies behind them, complete the quiet and pure atmosphere. The inscription reads: ‘Of the seven things needed for starting a household, tea is the most important’. These seven things were firewood, rice, oil, salt, vinegar- and tea. Until the Song dynasty (960-1279), wine - the seventh thing - too was thought an essential, but was then dropped and never again included. Liao Shiouping, born on Taiwan in 1936 and now one of the leading Taiwanese artists, studied in Tokyo and Paris. While studying in Tokyo from 1977-1979, he was separated from his family. He recalls that when he returned to his lonely room at night, he took comfort in the simple things around him: a teapot and some cups, fruit, vegetable, flowers. And he painted them. The painting, in the style of an album leaf, represents pureness as well Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 04:59:06PM as homeliness, connecting past and present. via free access 15 It might be surprising to realize that although Chinese people drank tea for thousands of years, teapots made their appearance rather late. This is linked to the Chinese development of brewing tea. During the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) tea was made by decoction and aromatic herbs like ginger were often added. Later, the leaves were processed into blocks, which were then grated into a bowl of boiling water. During the Song dynasty, the drink was prepared using green tea powder, using a ewer to pour hot water directly into the cup. The mixture was then beaten vigorously with a bamboo whisk. This method gradually died out in China, but it was passed on by Buddhist monks to Japan, where it is used up to the present day during the chanoyu - the ritualized tea ceremony. From the 15th century onwards, during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) a new method became fashionable. Tea leaves were in- fused, and a specific vessel became indispensable for this: the teapot was born. During the Ming dynasty, the Southern provinces of China - particularly the area around Yixing - were vibrant with intellectual activity and were home to many famous literati or men of letters, wenren. The region also had a long history of tea cultivation, and during the Ming dynasty it became fashionable to brew tea leaves in teapots and to drink strong tea from tiny, globular teapots. The fine and small Yixing pots of red stoneware in sophisticated shapes were perfect to transform drinking tea into an aesthetic pleasure. On many Ming paintings depicting ya/Z (elegant gatherings) of cultivated gentlemen, tea is shown prepared in these red stoneware pots. Yixing teapots had become a highly appreciated part of the cultured lifestyle of the Chinese literati. Fine tea wares had already been discussed in the famous classic Chajing, written around 660 by Lu Yu of the Tang dynasty (618-907). This text was frequently referred to during the Ming and Qjng (1644-1911) dynasties. Famous potters and sophisticated patrons The teapot shown in figure 2, in the shape of a pudgy pear, would be considered a ‘classical’ example. The small pot of fine quality is made of reddish brown clay with a natural polish; it is completely void of decoration except for its lovely shape. On the base is a mark (fig. 3), giving the place where the small pot was made - Jingxi, the old name of Yixing during the Warring States period - and the name of the potter, Shi Dabin (ca. 1573-1648). This requires some explanation. The potters of Jingdezhen, where most Chinese porcelain was produced, are not known to us by name. It was only in the kilns of Dehua - which produced mostly white, undecorated wares - and in the Yixing kilns that potters would traditionally sign their works. This is why we know the names of the Yixing potters. Some of the master potters, particularly of the late Ming and early Qjng dynasties, became famous and were actually a kind of brand name. They created their pots and added inscriptions or small poems on them, working closely together with the Chinese literati elite. Yixing tea wares bearing the marks of famous potters were already a collectors item during the Ming dynasty, and the styles of famous potters have been widely imitated since. It is still difficult to be certain whether Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 04:59:06PM extant pieces bearing these marks are actually genuine works. via free access Fig. 2 Teapot, Yixing stoneware, h. 6.5 cm.; d. 11.0 cm., iQth century (?), N01457. Fig-3 The practice of making copies of teapots by famous Yixing potters began as early as the late Ming period and was particularly rampant in the late 19th and early 20th century, when the works of almost every Ming and Qjng Yixing master were reproduced. However, many of these copies are of high quality and remain true to the style of the potter whose mark is found on the base. The mark on the small teapot (figs. 2 and 3) refers to Shi Dabin, one of the most famous potters of the Ming dynasty. He produced teapots in the early 17th century, and the custom of using tiny tea pots is attributed to him. Shi Dabin, himself a highly educated person, is said to have visited scholars and tea connoisseurs all around Yixing. These visits persuaded him to make these small teapots, so that each tea drinker could drink from his own pot. Shi Dabin teapots were rare and valuable items and were held in high esteem. His works were already being faked in his own lifetime. The main characteristics of Shi Dabin teapots are an absence of ornament, an even, textured and slightly sandy body, and curved spouts.