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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 rev. ed., p. 239 as:
'Finest 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. Others have been sold at Christie's: one in Paris, 13 June 2007, lot 223; two in New York, 21 March 2013, lots 902 and 905; and one in Hong Kong, 27 November 2013. See, also, the similarly decorated teapot in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taipei, 1991, p. 216.
'Finest 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. Others have been sold at Christie's: one in Paris, 13 June 2007, lot 223; two in New York, 21 March 2013, lots 902 and 905; and one in Hong Kong, 27 November 2013. See, also, the similarly decorated teapot in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 5, Taipei, 1991, p. 216.