NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (960-1127)

Before Song Dynasty, the fashion for tea drinking centred on brewed tea. The method of tea making described in The Classic of Tea, written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty, is that of the brewed tea. In the Song painting Xiao Yizhuan Lanting tu (fig. 1), after a Tang original, a tea brewing scene is depicted showing the principle utensils – brazier and skillet. On the current model, the brazier and skillet are fired together and cannot be separated, and its size is too small for practical use. Hence, it is possible that this was made to be a plaything on the scholar’s desk. Although brewed tea diminished in popularity in the Song period, its old-fashioned connotation was much admired by the literati, who often referred to it in poems. It is not surprising that such an object would have been considered an elegant accompaniment for a scholar’s desk. Compare to another Ding miniature model of brazier and skillet excavated in Quyang (fig. 2), illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, Hebei, vol. 3, Beijing, 2008, pl. 60 .