news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

The Geometric Aesthetics of Chinese Teacups

As I drink more tea, I change my cups more often, so I become more and more discerning about choosing cups. Today, I will show you some classic cup shapes to appreciate the beauty of teaware.

▲Cup： Tea drinking utensils. Open mouth, slanted body, deep belly, ring foot, slightly small. In the Song Dynasty, there were black, white, brown, green, white and green-white glazed tea cups, with black glaze being the most valuable.

In fact, starting from the Song Dynasty, teacups became special utensils for drinking tea, which also meant that drinking tea began to move from the level of daily life to the level of spiritual enjoyment.

▲Hand pressing cup：The mouth is flat and outward-slanting, the belly wall is nearly vertical, and it is inward-slanting from the lower belly wall, with a ring foot. When held in the hand, the slightly outward-slanting rim fits the edge of the hand just fine. The size is moderate, the weight is moderate, and it fits the hand firmly, so it is called a "hand-pressing cup". The Ming Yongle blue and white hand-pressing cup is the most famous.

▲Open cup： The mouth is slightly tilted outward, the belly is slightly contracted, and the foot is round. The body is thin and fine. This shape is also the most commonly used and common. The roundness of the tea soup is higher than the previous one, but it is more real and normal. The degree of aroma and flavor is higher than the previous one. The overall feeling is more natural and real.

▲"Zhe Yao" cup： It is an allusion to serving others, which comes from the Biography of Tao Qian in the Book of Jin. After that, "not bending for five pecks of rice" became a synonym for having backbone. The height of the bent-waist cup is moderate, which gathers fragrance and flavor, and also fits the curve of the hand.

▲ Hexagonal cup:Anyone who likes to collect Ru kiln cups should be immune to the six-sided one. The shape is moderate, the cup shape is attractive, the hexagonal shape is upright, the lines are clear, the edges and corners are clear, and the Ru glaze makes it more rounded. The six-sided shape is straight and upward, with a curve in the square.

▲Lotus Petal Cup： The Ru glaze is applied, and the difference between the cup shape and the lipped cup is the small lotus petals embellishing the cup mouth, which looks like a new life. It is simple and elegant, smooth and practical. The cup body cracks like fish scales and cicada wings. After long-term use, the tea color will be on the cracks, forming unpredictable and beautiful patterns.

▲Hat-shaped cup： The shape of the conical hat cup is like the conical hat worn by an old man in straw raincoat, with a large mouth and a small base, which represents the beauty of contentment. The lines are simple and elegant, and it is difficult to fire. It is particularly precious because it embodies great wisdom in its simplicity.

▲Yuanrong Cup： The belly is slightly bulging, and the mouth is slightly retracted, but it is also relatively real and normal, but its effect of gathering fragrance and flavor is obviously better, and the overall taste is the best. This cup also has a good meaning, which means that a big belly can accommodate.

▲Square Cup： A cup-shaped cup popular in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, named after its resemblance to a square bucket. In ancient times, square vessels were not made by direct throwing of clay using the rotation of a potter's wheel like round vessels. The process was quite special, requiring the clay to be made into sheets and glued together.

Due to the complexity of the craftsmanship and technical limitations, most of the square cups in the Jiajing period were irregular. In the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, a square cup with a handle appeared. There was a horizontal beam inside the cup, connecting the inner walls on both sides, which strengthened the strength of the square cup during the firing process and made the shape of the cup very regular.

▲Chicken Cup： The cup has an open mouth, a shallow belly and a flat foot. The cup is painted with roosters, chicks and rocks, orchids and peonies, hence the name Chicken Cup. The Ming Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup was once very famous. It was imitated in every dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, especially during the reigns of Kangxi and Yongzheng, which were the best imitations and could be mistaken for the real thing. One cup costs hundreds of millions!

▲ Flat cup： It is a cup style popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is named because the bottom of the cup has no ring foot and is concave. There are white glaze, blue and white, five colors, pastel, ink color and other varieties. It is a representative work of Yongzheng's aesthetics!

▲Bell Cup： It is also called the Upturned Bell Cup, Golden Bell Cup, and Pan-style Cup. It was popular during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The cup mouth is outward-slanting, the belly is deep, the foot is ring-shaped, and it looks like an inverted bell, hence the name. During the Chenghua, Jiajing, and Wanli periods of the Ming Dynasty, there were varieties such as white glaze, Doucai, and blue and white. During the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods of the Qing Dynasty, there were blue and white, five-color, etc. This type of cup is currently the most common on the market.

▲Horseshoe Cup： Popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Open mouth, oblique belly, concave bottom and small flat bottom. Most of the official kiln wares have the year mark on the bottom, and the shape is like an inverted horseshoe. In Ming Dynasty, Huiqing, Splashing Blue, Peacock Blue, White Glaze and other varieties are common. It was more popular during the Yongzheng period of Qing Dynasty, and most of them were Doucai, and the most common ones were decorated with four flowers on the belly.

▲Kongming Bowl： It is made of two bowls glued together, with a hollow space between the two bowls and a hole in the bottom of the outer bowl, so it is called Kongming bowl, also known as Zhuge bowl. It originated from Longquan kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty and was fired in Jingdezhen in the Ming Dynasty. The structure of the current insulation cup comes from this.