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Lot Essay
The poem may be found on a small number of Jiaqing-period teapots and tea-trays, as it praises well-prepared tea. S.W. Bushell translates the poem in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981 (1896), p. 239 as:
'Finest tribute tea of the first picking
And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse.
A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove,
The water is boiling in the stone griddle,
Small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.
Of rare Ch'i-ch'iang tea, rolled in tiny balls,
One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
And dissipate the early winter chill.'
An identical tray, of Jiaqing date, is illustrated by A. J. Allen, Allen's Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain, New Zealand, 1996, p. 193, pl. 109, and another was from the Lizzadro Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2013, lot 902.
A lime-green ground teapot inscribed with the same poem is from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taipei, 1991, p. 216.
'Finest tribute tea of the first picking
And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse.
A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove,
The water is boiling in the stone griddle,
Small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.
Of rare Ch'i-ch'iang tea, rolled in tiny balls,
One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
And dissipate the early winter chill.'
An identical tray, of Jiaqing date, is illustrated by A. J. Allen, Allen's Introduction to Later Chinese Porcelain, New Zealand, 1996, p. 193, pl. 109, and another was from the Lizzadro Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2013, lot 902.
A lime-green ground teapot inscribed with the same poem is from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taipei, 1991, p. 216.