Seeking plum blossoms in snow is a unique elegant pleasure in winter; appreciating plums through tea is a poetic blank in Chinese-style life. At Tongxin She Teahouse, there is a set of tea ware that can capture the hearts of tea lovers – Jingdezhen Ink Plum Gilded Gaiwan and Ink Plum Master Cup. With porcelain as paper, glaze as snow, ink as soul, and gold as bone, they condense the "slender shadows slanting across clear shallow water" mountain garden plum blossoms described by Lin Bu into the small tea ware, making every tea brewing a dialogue with the pure energy of heaven and earth.
The creation of this gaiwan embodies the ultimate ingenuity and exquisite craftsmanship of Chinese aesthetics. Craftsmanship: Dark Ink and Pure Gold – Craftsmen draw inspiration from the artistic conception of "mountain garden plum blossoms", take the pure energy of heaven and earth as the soul, and carefully outline plum blossoms with dark ink. The clusters of plum branches are not painted in isolation but in a panoramic way, allowing them to grow naturally along the shape of the gaiwan, as if sprouting from porcelain clay and spreading with the curvature, without any stiffness or crampedness. The white glaze base is like snow covering the wilderness, pure and free of impurities, leaving sufficient blank space for the ink plums to "breathe" – the blank space is like the clear sky after snow, when the sun shines, casting light and shadow of plum branches on the snow, empty but not lonely, sparse but rhythmic.
Gold as bone is the finishing touch of this gaiwan. The outlines of plum branches and slender stamens are all carefully outlined with pure gold, not ostentatious or gaudy, but with inherent integrity. Plum branches meander up from the bottom of the gaiwan to the rim; viewed from above, the whole circle forms a perfect circle; viewed from the side, the lines stretch like a scroll, with a sparse layout and distinct shades of ink. Especially at the rugged branch tips, craftsmen endow the porcelain surface with a three-dimensional texture through changes in brush stroke weight. When stroked with fingertips, one can clearly feel the warmth of the ink plum gilding, as if touching the frost on cold plum branches or the softness of newly blooming stamens, delighting both touch and sight. Its shape is exquisite and suitable: Dimensions/cm: Caliber 7.2, Height 6.5; Capacity/ml: 90, which can just gather fragrance and lock flavor, suitable for various teas.
Ink as soul reveals the charm of the ware. From a distance, the ink plums on the gaiwan seem to bloom in the air, breaking free from the porcelain surface, as if being in Gushan Plum Garden, seeing slanting plum shadows and smelling faint fragrance. The mountain garden plum blossoms by Lin Bu and the pure energy between heaven and earth are all contained in this cup. The ink-colored plum blossoms retain their original shade and pure fragrance, their elegant integrity unchanged over time.
Those who understand gaiwan must match it with a master cup. For this beloved ink plum gilded gaiwan, Tongxin She specially found a matching ink plum master cup. The cup body is designed with a special curved waist, fitting perfectly in the hand, matching the temperature of the palm, as if having a tacit understanding with the ware.
On the master cup, pure gold also dots the stamens, with faint fragrance lingering. When boiling tea is poured in, the ink plums are indistinct in the tea water, and the golden stamens shimmer slightly with light. From every angle, it is a new painting – sometimes seeing plum branches reaching into the water, sometimes golden stamens holding fragrance, sometimes snow-white blank space, full of charm.
Drink a cup of tea, use the artistic conception of ink plums to hold the elegant fragrance of winter, and let the pure soul of plums and snow in this small tea ware accompany you through every poetic tea time.