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Lot Essay
It is unusual to find inscribed jade teabowls, as a number of these were usually on porcelain, either decorated in underglaze blue or iron red. The poem on the current bowl, Sanqing cha, 'Tea of Three Purities', was composed by the Qianlong Emperor. Compare with two ceramic bowls similarly decorated, the first in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition, Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea, and illustrated in the Catalogue, 2002, p. 152, no. 129; and another also in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Emperor Qianlong's Grand Cultural Enterprise, Taipei, 2002, p. 51, cat. no. I-40.
It has been mentioned that the Qianlong Emperor was an avid drinker of tea, and in the 11th year of his reign (1746) on his return from visiting Mount Wutai, Shanxi province, his entourage sojourned to make tea using fallen snow. In the brew, as well as Longjing tea leaves, were the additions of prunus, pine nut kernels and finger citrus. It was this concoction that inspired the Emperor to compose the present poem.
It has been mentioned that the Qianlong Emperor was an avid drinker of tea, and in the 11th year of his reign (1746) on his return from visiting Mount Wutai, Shanxi province, his entourage sojourned to make tea using fallen snow. In the brew, as well as Longjing tea leaves, were the additions of prunus, pine nut kernels and finger citrus. It was this concoction that inspired the Emperor to compose the present poem.