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Lot Essay
The poem has been translated by S. W. Bushell in Oriental Ceramic Art, London 1981 (1986), 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.'
Similar teapots with poems praising and advising on the proper preparation of good tea are quite rare. There is only a small number of Jiaqing-period teapots with such poem. Compare with an identical teapot from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol.5, Taiwan 1991, p.216 ; see also the one sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 1 November 2004, lot 922
'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.'
Similar teapots with poems praising and advising on the proper preparation of good tea are quite rare. There is only a small number of Jiaqing-period teapots with such poem. Compare with an identical teapot from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol.5, Taiwan 1991, p.216 ; see also the one sold in our Hong Kong Rooms, 1 November 2004, lot 922