An old saying goes, “Either higher or lower in social status, either rich or poor, every family has kitchen utensils as necessities.” Ever since the tea appeared in Chinese’ life, no matter it is for medical treatment, eating or drinking, it can’t do without tea sets. In the history of the application, the tea, tea sets, as part of the cultural system of utensils, keep developing continuously. Tea sets vary in material, shape, technology and naming due to diversified drinking habits and customs in different historical periods, different areas and different nationalities. Tea sets are of high values not only in practical use, but also in visual arts. “Delicious food is less charming than beautiful wares.” Artistic values in fine tea sets are eye pleasing, and promotes Chinese’ enjoyment of tea.
The archetype of tea set can be traced back to pottery utensils used by Chinese in Neolithic Era. According to earliest written history, the first tea drinkers were people in Sichuan in the Han dynasty, when no tea sets had been singled out. The blue glazed calyx with tray in the Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties can be regarded as the earliest mature tea set.
Tea sets in the Tang dynasty:
Tea drinking was so prevailing in the Tang dynasty that the tea set had established its own system. In the Chapter of Tea Set of his Encyclopedia of Tea, Lu Yu named 28 kinds of tea sets and divided them into wares for cooking, grinding, drinking and storing tea based on their function. At that time porcelain tea sets were mass produced in North and South China, with Yue ware and Xing ware as representatives for “Northern white and Southern blue.” Other major wares were in Changsha, Shouzhou, Hongzhou, Yuezhou, etc. Tea sets in the Tang dynasty were mainly bowls, cup supports and affusion ware, e.g., Jade Bowl unearthed in Changsha ware, Bottle of Tea Society unearthed in a Xi’an tomb, etc. Besides ceramic tea sets, there were tea sets of gold and silver. Through the silver tea sets with gold-plating unearthed from the underground of Famen Temple, we’ll see the grand spectacle of drinking tea in the royal court of Tang.
Tea sets in the Song dynasty (Liao-Jin Period):
Tea drinking became popular among folks in the Song dynasty, and there were a lot of porcelain wares that produced tea sets, e.g., the Five Famous Wares – Guan, Ge, Ding, Ru, Jun.. Jian’ou Beiyuan tea was royal tribute. Its dragon and phoenix tea cakes are best if pure white in color. In addition, there were severe competitions, and black glaze calyx and kettle were often winners, e.g. Jian’s rabbit calyx, Jizhou’s flecked calyx, hawksbill calyx, leaf line and paper-cut applique dark glaze calyx, and Cizhou’s rusty black glaze calyx. Apart from that, blue glaze tea sets were also mass-produced in Longquan (South) and Yaozhou (North). The bamboo hat bowl is a typical tea ware in the Song dynasty.
Tea sets in the Ming and Qing dynasty
As the loose tea drinking was very popular at Ming and Qing dynasty, the utensils like teapot, cup and covered bowl became the main tea set at that time.
Porcelain tea sets were still used extensively, the white and blue and relative color tea sets had reached their height of splendor in the Emperors Kang Xi, Yong Zheng and Qian Long's reign, especially, the emerge of color glaze-pink and enamel made the tea set more exquisite and noble.
With the flourishing of loose tea, the purple clay tea set became the most popular tea-drinking utensil, beside the growing technology of making tea pot, the involvement of poet and literator added tea set a lot of culture characteristic. Also, at that time, the tin pots were used by more and more people for it art characteristic. This also made a lot of famous pot-makers at that time.
Tin Pot
As commented by ZhangDai in his " making of Tin Pot and Clay Pot", the tin pot made by Wang Yuan Ji ranked on the top, followed by Gui Mao De's. Both tin pot and purple clay pot were exquisitely made, was treated as expensive goods.
Li Ri Hua also stated in his script that Huang Shang was the one of the famous tin pot-makers, his tin pot was a fad at that time.
