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Lot Essay
The poem on this small dish, composed by the Jiaqing Emperor, praises the pleasure of drinking tea and appears on tea trays and tea pots of different palettes. S.W. Bushell translates the poem in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981, 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 Chi'i-ch'iang tea, rolled into tiny balls,
One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
And dissipate the early winter chill.'
A similar blue and white tray is illustrated by H.A. Van Oort, Chinese Porcelain of the 19th and 20th Centuries, The Netherlands, 1977, p. 19, pl. 2. Compare, also, the pair of dishes of this pattern and date sold at Christie's London, 15 May 2012, lot 395.
'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 Chi'i-ch'iang tea, rolled into tiny balls,
One cup is enough to lighten the heart,
And dissipate the early winter chill.'
A similar blue and white tray is illustrated by H.A. Van Oort, Chinese Porcelain of the 19th and 20th Centuries, The Netherlands, 1977, p. 19, pl. 2. Compare, also, the pair of dishes of this pattern and date sold at Christie's London, 15 May 2012, lot 395.