The Arts Bridge Space
Millennium Tea Chant – The Art of Tea Utensils
February 22, 2022
The tea bowl is arguably one of our dearest objects.
The tea bowl in Yingying's hand in Liu Songnian's painting of Gambling in the Tea Garden is a sharp weapon. In the poetry of Su Shi and Huangtinghuan it is a spiritual object.
The Song Dynasty was one of the pinnacles of Chinese culture. Song Huizong and Song Gaozong led the two cultural upsurges of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty which remain important until today.
Southern Song, Liu Songnian, Gambling in the Tea Garden (part)
Tea bowls in the Song Dynsaty could be found among emperors and common folk, in religious settings or in adventures overseas.
The tea utensils of the Song Dynasty demonstrated their tolerance beyond nature and humanity across thousands of years. Spearheaded by the Jianyao and Chayang kilns, the Song Dynasty saw the flourishing of many famous kilns including the Jizhou kiln, Yaozhou Kiln and Ding kiln.
Each of these kilns demonstrates the modest beauty of the Song Dynasty and universality of ceramics at the time.
Savor the taste of life from a bowl of tea, meditate, understand the Tao, return to the inner journey, let's start together.
