《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》中茶事描繪再探

傳為初唐閻立本的《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》今存世的有兩卷, 一藏於遼寧博物館, 另一藏於台灣故宮博物院. 據學者考證[資料?]此二均宋代的摹本, 其中遼寧博物館所藏的是北宋摹本, 台灣故宮博物院所藏是南宋摹本.


遼寧博物館所藏


台灣故宮博物院所藏

Literature review

李豔婷 遼博本《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》作者考辨(天津美术学院学报 2007年第3期)

浩更 《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》重現唐代煮茶風情(文化交流 2008年第5期；又转载于拙风文化网) -- 論點可質疑處頗多

Pine needle motif on Japanese tea wares

The first time this motif caught my eyes was when I bought a tetsubin with kanji 松風(wind through pine trees) on one side and some "strange" design on the other. At that time, I wasn't sure that the needle like leaves are pine needles and the fruit like thing is a pine cone. Later on I learned that this motif is called 松葉絵 matsu-e(drawing of pine needles). Sometimes, pine cones, called 松ぼっくり(松毬), are also accompanied.

Two things we can learn from this motif. First, as the pine leaves are depicted not on branch but as separate pairs of needles, this motif indicates the season to be late autumn, when the pines shed some leaves on the ground. The falling leaves, just as the falling of sakura flower in Spring, give a sense of the transient beauty. Second, as the needles are paired, or in fascicles of two, we can tell that the dominant pines trees in Japan are probably those similar to Red Pines or Scots Pines in Europe. Or, at least these are the pines that caught the artists' eyes...

The following are a few more examples of the pine needles motif on Japanese tea wares. Note the first one, a tea caddy, has both needles and pine cone, similar to the tetsubin. The second one, a red tea caddy, has bamboo leaves and plum flowers -- thus it makes another popular motif Sho-chiku-bai (松竹梅 pine-bamboo-plum), or Saikan Sanyuu (歳寒三友), literally, "the Three Friends of Winter."





This is a 松葉絵銘々皿 (matsuba-e-meimeizara; "meimeizara" are small plates for individual helpings of food) and it has a more realistic depiction of the pine needles --

CCTV program features "drinkable antique" - old fine Puerh tea

CCTV now has a "Myths of sky-price" series, and one of them is the "Drinkable Antique (能喝的古董) - myths in old fine Puerh teas":

-- I'm trying to embed the video here, but it only ended up with a link! -- anyone can help me?? (Before I figure it out, you have to copy & paste this link to the address bar to watch the show. Sorry!)

标题:[走近科学]天价之谜（二）能喝的古董(2009.02.24)
URL：http://space.tv.cctv.com/video/VIDE1235490488700888

Bibliography and Reference

Source - scriptures

• 茶道古典全集 / 淡交社


• 中國歷代茶書匯編校注本 / (香港)鄭培凱、(浙江農大)朱自振

Works - individual studies (texts in Chinese)

• 宋代茶法硏究資料 Sōdai chahō kenkyū shiryō / 佐伯富編 Saeki Tomi hen


• 宋代茶文化 / 沈冬梅 學海出版社, 1999 (Minguo 88)


• 茶与宋代社会生活 / 沈冬梅 [in 中国社会科学博士论文文库] 中国社会科学出版社, 2007


• 中国贡茶 / 巩志浙江摄影出版社, 2003


• 明代茶文化藝術 / 廖建智 Taibei, 秀威資訊科技股份有限公司, 2007 [9789866909399]


• 明代茶酒文化之研究 / 廖建智 Taibei, 萬卷樓圖書, 2005 [9789577395283]


• 明代茶业经济硏究 / 刘淼 汕头大学出版社, 1997 [9787810362078]


• 诗化的品茗艺术: 从唐代茶诗看唐代茶艺 / 李新玲 农业出版社, 2008 [9787109128835]


• 茶与现代养生 / 范晓清 主编 人民军医出版社, 2007 [9787509109335]

(texts in English/bilingual)

• Tea, wine and poetry : Qing dynasty literati and their drinking vessels = 詩酒茶情 : 清代製壼名家遺珍 / 宋緖康 [et. al] Hong Kong : University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2006 [9789628038381]

Journals

• 福建茶叶[季刊](OCLC51674101)


• 农业考古/江西省社科院(OCLC62606234)

宋明雅士文化Intellect's life of Song and Ming Dynasties

• 《遵生八笺》


• 《考槃余事》

關於香

• 《香乘》

Playing the Song Dynasty Partaking Tea Method

Step 1


Step 2


Step 3

Freshman Seminar Course Proposed

A proposal for teaching a Freshman Seminar course in 2009 Autumn Quarter titled

"Introduction to Chinese Tea Culture"

has been submitted. If accepted, this blog will be developed to integrate class content, readings, online reference, and discussion topics.

高麗青瓷茶碗 Korai Seiji Chawan

This is a tea bowl of Kourai Seiji (高麗青磁 Korean Celadon) made in around 130 years ago. It has a small but rather tall foot, which makes it a cute looking. The tall foot, called koudai (高台 tall-stand), is a feature of tea bowl intended to provide a comfortable hold of the bowl when hot tea is made inside. The crackle glaze (ao hibi 皸) is attractive, and almost invisible raised decorative lines can be found around the lower body, on both inside and out.