Tea Cups

This teacup, designed in the style of the Ming Dynasty, is crafted using the underglaze blue and white porcelain technique, and is entirely hand-painted. The intricate and exquisite artwork features peach blossoms, ducks, butterflies, and the spring river. Two adult ducks, accompanied by ducklings, swim freely in the warming spring waters, surrounded by blooming peach blossoms and playful butterflies. The scene is vivid and natural, evoking a serene beauty. The artwork captures the essence of early spring on the river, portraying how ducks are the first to sense the warming waters, expressing joy and reverence for the arrival of spring.

Design and Appearance

• Shape: The teacup has smooth lines and a comfortable grip, combining unique and beautiful design elements.
• Glaze Colour: The surface of the teacup has a warm and smooth glaze. The base color is white, with the hand-painted underglaze blue technique, creating a deep and layered blue color.

Craftsmanship and Techniques

• Hand-Painted Artwork: The designs on the teacup are meticulously hand-painted, making each piece unique and full of artistic value.
• Tin Spot Technique: The glaze surface uses the tin spot technique, creating a mottled visual effect that adds a sense of history and texture, enhancing the antique charm of the teacup.

Ming-style teaware always features a distinctive tin spot pattern, giving the tea ware a unique charm. The formation of tin spots is due to the high content of iron elements in local parts of the blue pigment. After reaching saturation in the high-temperature glaze solution and cooling down, the iron elements in the supersaturated part start to precipitate. If the iron content of the blue pigment is higher and the cooling rate is appropriate, tin spots are more likely to appear on the surface of the ware.

In addition to firing and materials, the formation of tin spots also involves the factor of glaze material. During the painting process, tin spots can also be formed due to the accumulation of blue pigment. Tin spots are more likely to appear on the surface of the ware at the intersections and the starting and ending points of brushstrokes. The formation of tin spots can be said to be a natural creation or an artificial decoration. These tin glazes not only add a rustic texture to the teacup but also imbue it with a unique sense of history.

The artwork on this teacup is delicate, with fine brushstrokes that outline a unique sense of line beauty. The underglaze blue pigment is rich, featuring distinctive and prominent tin spots that appear exceptionally beautiful and captivating under the light.

This teacup is made in the style of the Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain, completely handmade and hand painted. The blue and white fish & seaweed pattern is vivid, showcasing ancient cultural and aesthetic values, allowing people to immerse themselves in a beautiful artistic atmosphere while enjoying their tea.

The special pattern of this teacup is fish and seaweed. Since ancient times, fish and seaweed motifs have been traditional decorative patterns in ceramics, representing auspiciousness and carrying rich cultural and aesthetic meanings. The homophonic association between fish and the Chinese word for “surplus” (yu) makes fish a symbol of abundance and wealth. Fish motifs are often used to convey the meaning of “abundance and surplus,” “prosperity year after year” (as the pronunciation of fish is similar to that of “surplus” in Chinese), and “auspicious celebrations and abundance.” The fish and seaweed motifs typically feature fish as the central element, with additional decorations such as water plants, forming a variety of decorative patterns. The depiction of four swimming fish in the artwork symbolizes the concept of “surplus in all four seasons,” representing a year-round surplus, which carries a highly positive connotation. Such motifs are not only favoured by the royal court but also beloved by people from all walks of life as auspicious decorations. The flexible composition, auspicious symbolism, and abundant variations of fish and seaweed motifs have made them timeless classics throughout different eras.

For Yuan blue and white porcelain refers to the blue and white porcelain produced during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) in China. The Yuan dynasty was an important period in the history of Chinese porcelain and one of the peaks of Chinese porcelain art. As one of the representatives of that era, Yuan blue and white porcelain exhibited unique artistic styles and technical levels. The characteristic of Yuan blue and white is the use of cobalt blue pigment for painting, which is made of cobalt oxide. After firing, the colour is bright and rich, with an extremely high decorative effect. Yuan blue and white porcelain has various shapes, thick and heavy, concise, and fluent lines, and stable and solemn shapes, all made exquisitely.

The evolution of Yuan blue and white is based on the foundation of the Tang and Song celadon. Firstly, the glaze colour was improved and innovated. Unique white glaze, eggshell glaze and blue-white glaze were invented to make the glaze crystal clear. Cobalt pigment was imported for glaze colouring. Or using pigment made from domestic materials.

The formation of tin spots on Yuan blue and white is due to the high content of iron elements in local parts of the blue pigment. After reaching saturation in the high-temperature glaze solution and cooling down, the iron elements in the supersaturated part start to precipitate. If the iron content of the blue pigment is higher and the cooling rate is appropriate, tin spots are more likely to appear on the surface of the ware.

In addition to firing and materials, the formation of tin spots also involves the factor of glaze material. During the painting process, tin spots can also be formed due to the accumulation of blue pigment. Tin spots are more likely to appear on the surface of the ware at the intersections and the starting and ending points of brushstrokes. The formation of tin spots can be said to be a natural creation or an artificial decoration.

This teacup has a thick body and uses the Su Ma Li Qing glaze material (a kind of blue pigment), with a heavy sense of tin spots, revealing a unique charm of the past era. The entire production process is completed by hand, and every detail has been carefully designed and polished, giving this teacup a unique artistic charm. The blue and white fish & seaweed pattern is vivid, showcasing ancient cultural and aesthetic values, allowing people to immerse themselves in a beautiful artistic atmosphere while enjoying their tea.

This Stem Teacup is meticulously handcrafted using the blue-and-white with underglaze red technique. In tea culture, the stem cup symbolizes solemnity and elegance. When using a stem cup for tea tasting, the graceful motion of raising the cup evokes a sense of timeless charm, as if immersed in the serene ambiance of ancient traditions, adding a touch of ritual and intrigue to the tea experience. Besides that, the artwork features camellia flowers, symbolising passion and beauty, often used to convey auspiciousness and blessings for happiness.

Blue-and-White with Underglaze Red (commonly known as “blue-and-purple”) is a ceramic decorative method in which underglaze red designs are added to blue-and-white patterns. Blue-and-white refers to patterns drawn with cobalt oxide, covered with a transparent glaze, and fired at over 1200°C in a reduction atmosphere to produce the characteristic underglaze decoration. Underglaze red uses copper oxide as a colouring agent, painted directly on the clay body (or on clay coated with a transparent white glaze), then covered with a clear glaze. After being placed in a saggar and fired at 1250–1280°C in a strong reduction atmosphere, the high-valence copper is reduced to low-valence copper, creating vivid yet subdued red patterns.

In this technique, underglaze red can be used to decorate the spaces between blue-and-white patterns, resulting in the unique combination known as blue-and-white with underglaze red. This complex process creates a striking artistic effect where blue, red, and white colours complement each other.

The production of blue-and-white with underglaze red ceramics is extraordinarily challenging. Historically, some artisans risked financial ruin in their pursuit of this technique due to its complexity. The difficulty arises because the cobalt (blue) and copper (red) oxides require different reduction temperatures, making it exceptionally hard to control the process. This results in a low success rate, with issues such as “flying red,” where the red and blue merge or the colours become indistinct and blurry.

Despite these challenges, the combination of blue-and-white with underglaze red achieves an unparalleled artistic effect, where the interplay of blue, red, and white elevates the beauty of ceramics to new artistic heights. This stem teacup exemplifies the mastery of this rare and sophisticated craft, making it a stunning and meaningful piece of art.