Pottery tea set refers to the purple sand pottery tea set produced in Yixing. Yixing clay has strong adhesion and is resistant to burning. Making tea with purple sand tea set can not only make tea really fragrant, but also have no smell of cooking soup, and can keep the color, fragrance and taste of tea for a long time.
Yixing Zisha Pot began in the Northern Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its simple shape, elegant color, bright and flawless, exquisite workmanship, as expensive as Ding Yi, there is a saying that "land and gold compete for price." The small teapot made by Shi Dabin, a master of teapot in Ming Dynasty, is elegant and exquisite. As a work of art to decorate several cases, it increases the elegance of tea tasting. The teapot he made is purple-black, mixed with sand, with stars and white spots. It is as graceful as the stars in the night sky, with a small body and a stable center of gravity. It is a simple and energetic boutique. The teapot is the darling of the ceramic family, and it is not glazed inside and outside. It is said that Su Dongpo designed a tree-carrying pot with natural ancient branches as the handle and an ochre melon-shaped pot body, carved with quaint tiles and exquisite calligraphy. It is elegant and quaint, and the color contrast complements each other. It is regarded as a treasure with practical value by scholars of all ages.
The shapes of teapot are: antique, plain (no flowers and no words), floral (natural images of pine, bamboo and plum) and ribbed bag (geometric pattern). Artists use knives as pens, and the books, paintings and seals they create are integrated into one, forming an ancient and elegant style.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, artists of teapot have a place to play. Today, the teapot has reached a very high level in both shape and texture, and has been praised as "the first tea set in the world" by international friends. Master Gu Jingzhou's "Tibby Pot" and "Han Yun Pot" are listed as international exchange gifts. In addition, China has specially designed an artistic tea set-horizontal handle pot for Japanese consumers, and carved exquisite calligraphy with Buddhist scriptures on the surface of the pot according to Japanese hobbies, which has become a good tool for Japanese consumers to taste tea. At present, the variety of purple sand tea sets has increased from forty or fifty to more than 600. For example, the purple sand double-layer thermos cup is a new product welcomed by the masses. Because purple sand is delicate and flexible in texture, strong in plasticity and good in air permeability, the tea set made of it is full of color, smell and fragrance, which is not easy to deteriorate in summer and burst when cooked on the stove in winter.
There are many styles of tea sets. How to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a tea set? Generally speaking, its practical value should be considered first, and then its appreciation value, that is, the beauty of appearance. Taking the pot as an example, we should pay attention to the following specific requirements: proper volume-to-weight ratio, convenient lifting of the handle, seams around the lid, smooth water outlet from the spout, exquisite and harmonious shape, color and pattern, and harmonious combination of practicality and artistic beauty, which is the perfect tea set. Yixing's purple sand tea set has these characteristics.
2. China tea set
Porcelain tea sets in China are produced after pottery, and are divided into white porcelain tea sets, porcelain tea sets and black porcelain tea sets according to their products.
(1) white porcelain tea set
White porcelain tea set is named after its white color as jade. It is produced in many places, such as Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, Liling in Hunan, Dayi in Sichuan, Tangshan in Hebei and Qimen in Anhui. Among them, Jingdezhen products in Jiangxi are the most famous. White porcelain was called "fake jade" as early as the Tang Dynasty. The porcelain produced by Jingdezhen kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty is thin and smooth, with blue in white, elegant and pleasing to the eye, decorated with carvings, prints and brown dots. In the Yuan Dynasty, the blue-and-white porcelain tea set was developed, which was beautiful and generous, not only cherished by people at home, but also exported to overseas. Jingdezhen white porcelain blue-and-white tea set, which is popular in the market today, has developed and created many new varieties on the basis of inheriting traditional techniques. Whether it is teapot, teacup or tea tray, from modeling to graphic decoration, it embodies rich national style and modern oriental style. Kyocera is one of the most popular tea sets today.
(2) Porcelain tea set
Porcelain tea sets are mainly produced in Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places. Zhejiang Longquan celadon is famous for its simple and healthy shape and green glaze. It is a wonderful flower in the porcelain garden and is known as the "flower of porcelain capital". Longquan celadon is produced in Longquan County, southwest Zhejiang Province, which is one of the important producing areas of porcelain in China history. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Longquan had become the largest kiln industry center in China. Its excellent products were not only widely circulated among the people, but also the main items of foreign trade exchanges of the imperial dynasty at that time. In particular, artists Zhang Shengyi and Zhang Sheng's "Ge Kiln" and "Di Kiln" products have achieved high attainments in glaze color and modeling. Therefore, Ge Kiln is listed as one of the "five famous kilns" and Di Kiln is known as "the giant of famous kilns".
Geyao porcelain is famous for its "thin and firm tire, full glaze and quiet color", including pink blue, emerald green, gray blue and crab shell blue, among which pink blue is the most precious. There are various patterns on the glaze, such as wenwu patterns of different sizes, fine-eyed roe patterns, ice-cracked arctic broken patterns, crab claw patterns, eel blood patterns, cow hair patterns and so on. These unique patterns are caused by the different shrinkage coefficients of glaze raw materials, giving people a "broken line" aesthetic feeling.
Geyao porcelain is famous for its "beautiful shape, thick fetal bone, green glaze and smooth purity", including plum green, pink green, bean green and crab shell green, among which pink green and plum green are the best. Moisten powder like jade, crystal plum like jade. The beauty of its glaze color is unparalleled in the world.
(3) Black porcelain tea set
Black porcelain tea sets are produced in Zhejiang, Sichuan, Fujian and other places. In the Song Dynasty, the wind of fighting tea prevailed. According to experience, tea-fighting people think that black porcelain teacups are most suitable for tea-fighting, so they are famous. According to Cai Xiang's Tea Story in the Northern Song Dynasty, "The color of tea is white (the color of tea soup), and it should be black. The maker of Jian 'an (present-day Fujian) is black, with lines like rabbit hair. Its blank is slightly thick, and it is hard to be cold after a long time, so it is the most important to use. Those who go out of town, whether thin or purple, are not as good as them. It's blue and white. You don't have to argue. "The shape, porcelain, glaze color and rabbit hair pattern of the black porcelain teacups fired in Guangyuan Kiln, Sichuan are comparable to those of Jianci. Yuyao, Deqing, Zhejiang and other places have also made black glazed porcelain tea sets with dark color, bright color, beautiful and practical, among which the most popular one is a chicken-headed pot, that is, the mouth of the teapot is chicken-headed, and the National Museum of Tokyo, Japan still treasures a "Tianji pot". In ancient times, black porcelain rabbit hair tea lamp was often cherished by tea fighting experts because of its simplicity and elegance, unique style, heavy magnetism and good thermal insulation.
3, lacquerware tea set
Famous lacquerware teas include Beijing carved lacquerware tea set, Fuzhou bodiless tea set and bodiless lacquerware produced in Poyang and Yichun, Jiangxi. , all have unique artistic charm. Among them, Fuzhou lacquerware tea set is the best, with rich and colorful shapes, such as "gem flash", "golden agate", "glazed gold", "antique porcelain", "carved filling", "high carving" and "inlaid silver". Especially after the creation of new technologies such as ruby red "red gold sand" and "dark flower", it is even more dazzling.
4. Glass tea set
Glass tea sets are favored by people because of their transparent texture, dazzling luster, great plasticity and different shapes. They can be used for making tea and drinking. When making tea with a glass teacup (or a glass teapot), especially when brewing various famous teas, the tea soup is bright in color, the tea leaves float up and down during the brewing process, and the leaves gradually stretch and slim, which can be said to be a dynamic artistic appreciation at first glance. Glass tea sets are cheap and good, and are most popular with consumers. Its disadvantage is that glass is fragile and hotter than ceramics. However, there is also a specially treated product called tempered glass, which is very strong and is usually used in trains and restaurants.
5. Metal tea set
Metal tea sets are tea sets made of gold, silver, copper and tin, which have existed since ancient times. Especially the tea set made of tin for storing tea leaves has great advantages. Tin pot tea sets are mostly made into small mouths and long necks, and the cover is cylindrical and relatively sealed, which has good moisture-proof, oxidation-proof, light-proof and odor-proof properties. As for metal as a tea drinking utensil, the general evaluation is not high. This is used in the court of the Tang Dynasty. 1In May, 987, a large number of palace cultural relics of the Tang Dynasty were excavated in the underground palace of Famen Temple, the Royal Buddhist Temple in Fufeng County, Shaanxi Province, China, including a set of silver-plated tea-making utensils used by the late Tang Xizong Emperor Li Xian in his youth, totaling 1 12 pieces. This is the most advanced ancient tea set ever seen, and it can be called a national treasure. It reflects that the royal tea drinking utensils in the Tang Dynasty were very luxurious. In modern times, with the progress of science and technology, metal tea sets have basically disappeared.
6. Bamboo tea set
Historically, many people in rural areas, including tea-growing areas, used bamboo bowls or wooden bowls to make tea. Cheap and affordable, but rarely used in modern times. In the south of China, such as Hainan, making tea in pots and bowls made of coconut shells is not only economical and practical, but also artistic appreciation. Canned tea in wooden cans and bamboo cans can still be seen everywhere, especially the wooden box of oolong tea in Wuyishan, Fujian Province, which is painted with landscape patterns, well-made and unique. Boxwood pots and yellow bamboo teapots, as works of art, are also treasures given to relatives and friends, which have practical value.
7. Enamel tea set
Because of its durability, portability and practicality, enamel tea set was popular in China from 1950s to 1960s, and was later replaced by other tea sets.
In addition, tea sets made of jade, crystal and agate have been used in history. Because the equipment is difficult to make, expensive and of little practical value, it is mainly used as decoration to show the owner's wealth, so it is rare.
Tea sets are made of various materials and have various shapes and patterns. How to choose depends on local tea drinking customs, tea drinkers' aesthetic taste in tea sets, and the type and environment of tea they drink. For example, in Northeast China and North China, most people make tea in large porcelain pots and then pour it into porcelain bowls to drink. In addition to using teapots in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, it is generally customary to use porcelain cups with lids to drink directly. In the city, there are also glasses to make tea directly. In Sichuan area, people like to drink tea with porcelain "cover the bowl and cover the cup", that is, a small flower bowl with a small saucer under it. Tea and tea set are closely related. Good tea must be brewed with good tea sets, which complement each other. The quality of tea set will directly affect the quality of tea soup and the mood of drinkers. Generally speaking, porcelain tea sets and pottery tea sets are the best, followed by glass tea sets and enamel tea sets. Because porcelain has slow heat transfer and moderate heat preservation, it will not react with tea, and tea can get better color and fragrance; Moreover, it has beautiful shape and exquisite decoration, and has artistic appreciation value. Pottery tea sets are elegant in shape and simple in color, especially Yixing purple sand, which is a rare boutique in pottery. Used to make tea, the tea is mellow, the soup is clear, the heat preservation is good, and it is not easy to deteriorate even in summer.
Oolong tea has a strong aroma and mellow taste. When brewing, the tea leaves are pre-heated with boiling water shower before being put in; Immediately after the tea leaves are put in, they are brewed with boiling water and washed with boiling water for many times to make the tea fragrant. Therefore, it is most suitable to brew oolong tea with ceramic tea sets. However, the opacity of ceramic tea sets makes it difficult to appreciate the beauty of bud leaves in the pot after making tea, and it is not suitable for making famous tea.
If you brew with a glass tea set, such as Longjing, Biluochun, Junshan Yinzhen and other famous teas, you can give full play to the advantages of transparent glassware, which is pleasing to the eye.
As for other tea sets, such as enamel tea sets, although there are some shortcomings in appreciation value, they are also durable and convenient to carry, and are suitable for factory workshops, construction sites and travel. Plastic tea sets, because of the texture, also have an impact on the taste of tea. Except for temporary use under special circumstances, it should not be used at ordinary times, especially it is forbidden to brew high-grade green tea with plastic thermos cups. Therefore, the long-term heat preservation of the cup will make the tea soup turn red, the aroma will become lower, and the taste of boiled soup will appear, which will inevitably destroy the scenery.