Pursuing the Natural Harmony of Life: Arts of Tea Drinking in Song Dynasty

Pursuing the Natural Harmony of Life: Arts of Tea Drinking in Song Dynasty By Guan Lu Master of Letters University of Glasgow Christie’s Education London Arts of China September 2012 © Guan Lu

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Abstract Tea drinking has a long history in Chinese life. Tea drinking became popular in the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420). It grew fashionable among scholars, Buddhist monks and Daoist priests in the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). In the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), due to the popularity of drinking whisked tea, the art of tea drinking turned into a more lyrical activity and reflected the culture and social life of that period. Not only scholars, but also Emperors and monks either produced or commissioned excellent works of art on tea, including poems, lyrics, calligraphy and paintings. In addition, the production of tea bowl stands, tea bowls, ewers and other tea drinking utensils flourished.

This exhibition focuses on three themes which are Tea for Scholars, Imperial Tea and Tea for Monks to discuss the reasons that whisked tea took on such a literary significance in the Song Dynasty; how tea drinking reflected the Song people's philosophies and how these philosophies were reflected in the tea arts.

(Word count: 18960)

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Acknowledgements I would like to express my very great appreciation to the two best teachers Nixi Cura and Dr. Minna Torma for their patient guidance and enthusiasm encouragement of teaching. I feel so lucky to be your student and I have learnt a lot from you throughout this whole year!

I also would like to thank the whole classmates in Arts of China course. It's my pleasure to meet all of you, I would always remember the parties we had in the year, and I would never forget the time we spent together in the museums, galleries, auction pre-views and libraries.

I would also like to extend my thanks to my other friends in London for always accompanying me to drink whenever I need.

Finally, I wish to thank my parents for their support and encouragement throughout my study.

It is the best time in my life, not only because the wonderful classes Christie's Education provided, but also because I met you – the best teachers and excellent friends!!

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Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 3 List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................ 5 Essay ............................................................................................................................... 12 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 13 Tea for the Scholar ...................................................................................................... 20 A morally committed scholar .................................................................................. 20 A great calligraphy master ...................................................................................... 24 A tea connoisseur .................................................................................................... 35 Imperial Tea................................................................................................................. 50 Emperor Huizong: A Reformer .............................................................................. 50 A Sage–King ........................................................................................................... 51 A Scholar Emperor .................................................................................................. 55 Tea for monks .......................................................................................................... 67 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 100 Catalogue ...................................................................................................................... 101 Tea for Scholar: ......................................................................................................... 102 Imperial Tea............................................................................................................... 125 Tea for Monks ........................................................................................................... 143 Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 162 Bibliography.................................................................................................................. 166

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List of Illustrations Essay: Figure 1: Wang Xizhi (307 – 365). Details of beginning section of Sangluan Tie. Ink on paper, W. 11 1/4 in. (28.7 cm), L.24 3/4 in. (63 cm).

Amy McNair, “The Song Calligrapher Cai Xiang”, Bulletin of Song- Yuan Studies, 18 (1986), 64 Figure 2: Cai Xiang (1012 – 1067). The Taosheng Letter. Ink on paper, W. 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm), L. 20 in. (50.8 cm). National Palace Museum, Taipei. Lin Boting, eds., Grand View: Special Exhibition of Northern Song Painting and Calligraphy (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2006), 434. [hear after 'GVPC'].

Figure 3: Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785). Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew.

Hand scroll, ink on paper, W. 11 1/8 in. (28.3 cm), L. 29 3/4 in.

(75.5 cm). National Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Museum, 'Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew', National Palace Museum, http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/Article.aspx?sNo=04001003 (accessed 2 September 2013).

Figure 4: Su Shi (1037 – 1011), Detail of The Cold Food Observance.

Hand scroll, ink on paper, W. 5 7/8 in. (34.2 cm); L. 78 1/2 in.

(199.5 cm). National Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Museum, 'The Cold Food Observance', National Palace Museum, http://www.npm.gov.tw/masterpiece/fPreview.aspx?sNo=040010 05. (accessed 2 September 2013).

Figure 5: Cai Xiang (1012 – 1067), Chengxintang Letter.. Ink on paper, W. 9 3/4 in. (24.7 cm), L. 10 5/8 in. (27.1 cm), National Palace Museum, Taipei. GVPC, 428.

Figure 6: Whisked tea in Song dynasty, Liao Baoxiu, Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practie, and Art of Tea, Taipei: National Palace Museum of Taipei, 2002, 10. [hear after 'EVRM'] Figure 7: Tea ewer with lobbed body, Nothern Song dynasty (960 – 1127).

Jingdezhen ware, porcelain with translucent-blue glaze, H. 11 1/4 in. (28.3 cm), MD. 2 3/8 in. (6.0 cm), BD. 2 1/2 in. (6.2 cm).

Collection of the Tokyo National Museum, Japan. EVRM, 64.

Figure 8: Tea bowl with 'hare's-fur' effect, Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 5

1279). Jian ware, stoneware with black glaze, H. 2 3/4 in. (7.0 cm), MD. 4 3/4 in. (12.2 cm), BD. 1 1/2 in. (3.9 cm). Tokyo National Museum, Japan. EVRM, 47.

Figure 9: Flower vase. Song dynasty (960 – 1279). Longquan ware, stoneware with celadon glaze. H. 6 1/4 in. (15.7 cm). British Museum. British Museum, 'Vase', Collection, British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collecti on_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=183441 &objectId=183686&partId=1 (accessed 25 July 2013). [heare after 'BM'].

Figure 10: Cup stand with incised lotus design, Northern Song (960 – 1127). Ding ware, porcelain with white glaze, H. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm), D. 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm). Nationalo Palace Museum, Taipei.

Lin Boting, eds., China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty: 960 – 1279, Nationalo Palace Museum, 2000, lot 36, 218.[here after 'CISM'] Figure 11: Attributed to Huizong (Zhao Ji, 1082 – 1135; r. 1101 – 1125).

Auspicious Cranes (detail). Handscroll, in and colour on silk, W. 20 1/8 in. (51 cm), L. 42 1/2 in. (138.2 cm). Liaoning Provincial Museum. Patricia B. Ebrey, Accumulating Culture: The Collections of Emperor Huizong, Canada: University of Washington Press, 2008, Pl.21. [here after 'ACCEH'] Figure 12: Dasheng bells, Northern Song Dynasty (960 – 1127). H. 11 1/8 in. (28.2 cm) & 11 ¾ in. (27.4 cm) (respectively), . W: 6.5 kg & 5.5 kg (respectively), National Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Museum, 'Ruipin and Yize Bells', National Palace Museum, http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/song/english/art/m9.htm (accessed 25 July 2013) Figure 13: Cai Jing (1047 - 1126), Daguan Shengzuo Bei Tie, Stele, ink on papaer, W. 126 in. (320 cm), L. 44 1/10 in. (112 cm). Nihon: Heian. Hachirō Onoe & Kunihiko Shimonaka, Shodō zenshū, 15, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1954 – 1968. 117.

Figure 14: Attributed to Huizong (Zhao Ji, 1082 – 1135; r. 1101 – 1125), Listening to the Zither. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, W. 58 in. (147.2 cm), L. 20 1/8 in. (51.3 cm). Palace Museum, Beijing. ACCEH, Pl. 7.

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Figure 15: Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji, 1082 – 1135; r. 1101 – 1125), The Five - Coloured Parakeet on a Blossoming Apricot Tree. Hand scroll, ink and colour on silk, W. 21 in (53.3 cm), L. 49 1/4 in.

(125.1 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Maggie Bickford, eds., Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics, Cambridge and London:Harvard University Press, 2006, 483.

Figure 16: Guilt-silver grinder, Tang dynasty (618 – 907), size unknown.

Famen temple museum. Liao Baoxiu, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum), Taipei: National Palace of Taipei, 2012, 8. [hear after 'CYMS'].

Figure 17: Guilt-silver tea case, Tang dynasty (618 – 907), size unknown.

Famen temple museum. CYMS,22.

Figure 18: Guilt-silver tea spoon, Tang dynasty (618 – 907), size unknown.

Famen temple museum. CYMS, 23.

Figure 19: attributed to Muqi Fachang (active ca. 1260's – 1280's), Slumbering Budai. Hanging scroll, ink and paper, W. 30 3/8 in.

(77.1 cm), L. 12 1/8 in. (30.9 cm). Kyoto National Museum. He Chuanxin, eds., Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the Southern Song: Painting and Calligraphy, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2010, 396. [here after 'DRACSSPC'] Figure 20: Zhi Weng (active early 13th century), The Sixth Patriarch Huineng carrying a rob across his shoulder, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 93.0 x 36.4cm, Datitōkyū Library. Nezu Bijutsukan, Nansō kaiga: saijō gachi no sekai (Southern Song Painting: Elegant and Noble in Soul), Tokyo: Nezu Bijutsukan, 2004, 50.

Figure 21: Liang Kai (fl. Late 12th – early 13th c.), The Sixth Patriarch Chopping Bamboo. Early thirteenth century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 36 1/2 in. (72.7 cm), 12 3/8 in. (31.5 cm). Tokyo National Museum. Kei Kawakami, et. al., Suiboku bijutsu taikei, 4, Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975, 16.

Figure 22: Liang Kai (fl. Late 12th – early 13th c.), Immortal in Splashed Ink, Song dynasty (960 – 1279), Album leaf, in on paper, W. 19 1/8 in. (48.7 cm), L. 11 in. (27.7 cm). National Palace Museum of Taipei. DRACSSPC, 395.

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Figure 23: Two Chinese Jian ware bowls on Japanese carved Neoro lacquer stands resting on a Japanese Negoro lacquer try, Jian were c.13th - 14th century, and lacquer stands and tray c. 15th - 16th century.

Size unknown. Idemisu Museum of Arts, Tokyo. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan, London: Bristol Classical Press, 43.

Figure 24: Yuteki Temmoku Tea Bowl, Southern Song (1127 – 1279). Jian ware, stoneware with blace blaze, H. 2 5/8 in. (6.8 cm), D. 4 3/4 in. (12.3 cm). Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Registered National Treasure. Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400 – 1400, Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, 47. [here after 'HFTPF'] Figure 25: Tea Bowl, Southern Song (1127 – 1279). Jizhou ware, stoneware with tortoiseshell glaze, H. 2 3/4 in. (6.9 cm), D. 7 in. (17.9 cm). The Scheinman Collection. HFTPF, 225.

Figure 26: Exhibition room with a Japanese tea room style that displayed with Chinese objects. Owari Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation.

Liao Baoxiu, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum), Taipei: Natioanl Palace Musuem, 2010, 62.

Figure 27: Muqi Fachang (active ca. 1260's – 1280's), White Robbed Guanyin, haning scroll, ink and light colour on silk, W. 68 3/5 in. (174.2 cm), L. 38 7/8 in. (98.8 cm). Daitoku-ji collection, Kyoto. Yu Jianhua et. al., ed., Zhongguo Huihua Chuanji (Collections of Chinese Paintings), 3, Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin press, 1999, 176. [here after 'ZGHC'] Figure 28: Kano Tan'yū (1602 – 1674). The Sixth Patriarch of Chan at the Moment of Enlightenment, Hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 70 1/2 in. (179.1 cm), L. 10 in. (25.4 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'The Sixth Patriarch of Chan at the Moment of Enlightement', Search The Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-thecollections/73193?rpp=20&pg=1&ft=The+Sixth+Patriarch+of+ Zen+at+the+Moment+of+Enlightenment&pos=1 , (accessed 22nd, August, 2013). [hear after 'MMA'].

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Figure 29: Moku'an Rei'en (active ca. 1345). Detail of Hotei (Budai).

Hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 32 3/4 in. (80.3 cm), L. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm). MOA museum of Art, Atami. H. Brinker et. cl., eds., Zen in China, Japan, East Asian Art, figure 16. [here after 'ZCJEAA'].

Figure 30: Sōtatsu (active ca. 1600 – 1638). Chōka (Niao-k'0). Hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 37 3/4 in. (95.9 cm), L. 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm). Cleveland Museum of Art. ZCJEAA, figure 17.

Figure 31: Isshi (1608 – 1646). Shākyamuni Returning from the Mountains (Shussan Shaka). Hanging scroll, ink on paper, size unknown.

Sakada collection, Tokyo. ZCJEAA, figure 23.

Catalogues: Plate 1: Cai Xiang (1012 – 1067). Letter to Feng Jing. Album leaf, W. 11 3/4 in. (29.7 cm), L.15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm). National Palace Museums of Taipei. EVRM, 31.

Plate 2: Su Shi (1037 – 1101). Letter to Ji Chang. Album leaf, ink and colour on silk, W. 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm), L. 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm).

National Palace Museums of Taipei. EVRM, 32.

Plate 3: Attributed to Li Gonglin (1049 – 1106). Mountain Villa.

Handscroll, ink on paper, W. 11 3/8 in. (28.9 cm), L. 143 1/2 in.

(364.6 cm). National Palace Museums of Taipei. EVRM, 38 - 39.

Plate 4: Tea bowl with leaf pattern decoration, Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 1279), Jizhou ware, stoneware with black glaze, H. 2 1/8 in. (5.2 cm.); MD. 6 in. (15.2 cm.); BD. 1 1/4 in. (3.4 cm).

Nationalo Palace Museum, Taipei. CISM, 217.

Plate 5: A qin, Chinese zither with inscription attributed to Wang Huizhi, Song to Ming dynasty (10th – 17th century). H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm); W.(on shoulder) 7 1/2 in. (18.9 cm); W. (on tail) 5 1/4 in. (13.2 cm); L. 46 7/8 in. (119.3 cm). Nationalo Palace Museum, Taipei.

CISM, 257.

Plate 6: A tripod incense burner, Southern Song Dynasty (1127 – 1279).

Longquan ware, stoneware with celadon glaze, H. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm) high; DM. 5 1/4 in. (13.5 cm). Nationalo Palace Museum, Taipei. CISM, 227.

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Plate 7: Attributed to Song Huizong (Zhao Ji, 1082 – 1135; r. 1101 – 1125), Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, W. 72 5/8 in.

(184.4cm); L. 48 3/4 in. (123.9 cm). Nationalo Palace Museum, Taipei. National Palace Musuem, Taipei, "Jinjie Shangxi (Advanced Appreication)", Shuhua Qinghua (Selection of Classic Calligraphy and Paintings), National Palace Musuem, http://www.npm.gov.tw/dm2001/B/exhibition/personage/K2A000 836N_adv.htm, (accessed 23rd August, 2013).

Plate 8: Flower-shaped Tea Bowl Stand, Late Northern Song dynasty (late 11th century – early 12th century), Ru ware, stoneware with celadon glaze, H. 2 5/8 in. (6.5 cm), D. 6 3/4 in. (17 cm). The British Museum. The British Museum, 'Stand', Collection Online, The British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collectio n_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid =30613&objectid=255126, (accessed 23rd August 2013).

Plate 9: Tea bowl with “hare's- fur” effect, Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), Jian ware, stoneware with black glaze, H. 2 1/2 in. (6.5 cm), DM. 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm); DB. 1 5/8 in. (4.2 cm). National Palace Museum of Taipei. CISM, 215.

Plate 10: A set of dishes with bamboo, plum blossoms, butterflies and birds decoration. Southern Song (1127 – 1279) – Yuan (1271 – 1368) dynasty, gilt-silver, D. 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm) to 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm).

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'One from a Set of Dishes with Bamboo, Plum Blossoms, Butterflies, and Birds', Search the collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-thecollections/44302?img=2, (accessed 23rd August 2013).

Plate 11: Attributed to Zhiweng (active early 13th century). Meeting between Yaoshan and Li Ao. Horizontal leaf mounted as a hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 12 ¼ (31.1 cm); L.33 1/8 in. (84.1 cm).

The Metropolitan Musuem of Art. Maxwell K. Hearn, How to Read Chinese Paintings, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, 66. [here after 'TMMA'].

Plate12: Zhou Jichang & Lin Tinggui (c. 12th century). Five Hundred Luohan: Preparing Tea. Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, W. 42 3/4 in. (109 cm); L. 20 7/8 in (52.4 cm). Daitokuji Collection.

CYMS, 75.

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Plate 13: Liang Kai (c. late 12th – early 13th centruy). Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain. Hanging scroll, ink and colours on silk, W. 46 3/4 in. (119.0 cm), L. 20 3/8 in. (52.0 cm). Collection of Shima Ei'ichi, Tokyo. Kei Kawakami, et. al., Suiboku bijutsu taikei, 4, Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1975, 16.

Plate 14: Tea bowl with colour-changeable effect, Song dynasty (906 – 1127), Jian ware, stoneware with blace glaze, H. 2 3/4 in. (7.2 cm), DM. 4 3/4 in. (12.2 cm). Seikado Bunko Art Museum.

Seikado Bunko Art Museum, 'The Seikado Collection', Collection, Seikado Bunko Art Museum, http://www.seikado.or.jp/e_040000.html, (accessed 23rd August 2013).

Plate 15: Bowl stand, Northern Song (1034 – 1094). Brown lacquer on wood, H. 2 1/2 in. (6.2 cm); DM. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm), D. ( at saucer) 51/2 in. (4 cm). Victoria and Albert Museum. Victoria and Albert Museum, 'Bowl stand', Search the Collections, Victoria and Albert Museum, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125805/bowl-standunknown/, (accessed 23rd August 2013).

Figure 32: Haku-temmoku tea bowl, Muromachi period (16th century). A Mino ware, stoneware with whitish glaze, size unknown. The Tokugawa Art Museum. The Tokugawa Art Museum, 'Collection Highlights', Exhibition Room 2 The Practice of Tea: Daimyo's Tea Room, The Tokugawa Art Museum. http://www.tokugawa-art-museum.jp/english/ (accessed 23rd 2013).

Figure 33: Incense burner, Southern Song (1200 – 1279). Longquan ware, stoneware with celadon glaze, H. 3 in. (7.6 cm), D. 4 in. (10.2 cm), Victoria and Albert Museum. Victoria and Albert Museum, 'Incense burner', Search the Collections, Victoria and Albert. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O152674/incense-burnerunknown/, (accessed 23rd August 2013).

Figure 34: Conical bowl with decoration of three leaves, Southern Song (12th -13th century). Jizhou are, stoneware with black glaze, H. 4.8 cm, D. 15.1 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago. Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400 – 1400, Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, 260.

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Essay

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Introduction According to Lu Yu’s (733 - 804) Classic of Tea, tea was originally grown in Sichuan. It was first used by King Shennong – the “God of Agriculture” as a kind of medical decoction in the legendary period. Shennong believed that by drinking of tea, people could feel strength and happiness.1 During the Han (202 BC – 220 AD) and Six Dynasties (386 – 589) period, tea drinking spread rapidly in the south and slowly to the north. There are several reliable documents indicating the drinking of tea by southern elites.

The two famous Han literati Sima Xiangru (179 BC – 118 BC) and Yang Xiong (53 BC – 18 AD) both wrote about tea in their articles.2 However, tea drinking was very expensive, and most of the common people could not afford to buy tea. It was in the Jin dynasty (265 - 420) that tea drinking became more and more popular. Tea was served as a beverage to customers after they took their seats in restaurants.3 In the Jin dynasty, tea was prepared by cooking tea leaves with dogwood, onion, ginger, peppermint and other spices.

In the Tang dynasty (618 － 907), the habit of tea drinking not only quickly spread to all classes of Chinese people, but was also introduced to the 1 Lu Yu, 'Cha Jing (Classic of Tea)', in Ruan Haogeng et. al. eds., Zhongguo Gudai Chaye Chuan Shu (Collection of Ancient Chinese Tea Books) (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Sheying Press, 1999), 8.

2 Wang Ling, Zhong guo cha wen hua (Chinese Tea Culture) (Zhong guo shu dian, 1992), 24 – 25.

3 Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, K.S. Lo Collection in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (Urban Council, 1984), 20.

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Mongol, Tartar, Turkish and Tibetan areas.4 Lu Yu, a native of Hubei, was raised by monk. He liked ancient poems and drinking tea very much. In the year 780, he finished his masterpiece the Classic of Tea. According to Lu Yu's book, in the Tang dynasty, after the tea leaves were picked from the tea tree, they would first be steamed, then pounded, then moulded into different shapes of tea cakes. The tea cakes would be baked and then stored. When preparing to drink tea, the tea cake would be first roasted using a bamboo clip; then it would be ground into tea power. After that, the luo was used to sift the tea powder. The sifted tea powder would be added to boiled water, together with the salts. When the water was first boiled, some salt was added into the water first; when the water had boiled the second time, some of the boiled water was spooned out into a bowl. Then the bamboo clip was used to stir the water while adding tea powder. One had to wait for the water to be boiled for the third time and the water should be added for the second time. After that, the tea is ready to be served. When serving tea, it needed to be shared out equally into the tea bowls.5 Due to the complexity of tea preparing processes in the Tang dynasty, a great variety of tea drinking utensils were developed.

There are in total twenty-nine objects essential for making tea mentioned in Lu Yu's book. The most important ones are the brazier, the cauldron, the

4 John Bolfeld, The Chinese Art of Tea (London: George Allen & Unwin), 1985, 2.

5 Ruan, 2 – 12.

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roller, gauze, pincers, the tea bowl and the heating basin. In addition, Lu Yu indicated that the celadon glazed northern wares were better for tea drinking because the greenness of the glaze could make the tea look better.6

Because of the frequent communication between Lu Yu and other Tang literati such as Zhang Zhihe (730 – 810), Yan Zhenqin (709 – 784) and the monk Jiaoran, and the publishing of his Classics of Tea, tea drinking reached a cultural level associated with the literati and with spiritual practice.7 Many members of the literati wrote poems and essays about tea drinking after Lu Yu.

Bai Juyi (772 – 846), for example, in his Qin Tea, wrote, …In the songs of qin I only know Lvshui; In the tea, Mongshan tea is my good old friend.

Whether I was poor or rich they will always be with me; Who said that I now have no way to go?8

Lu Guimeg (? - 881) in his poem Boiling Tea, wrote, So relax sitting among the pine trees, looking at the boiling of snow from the tree.

The time is in the waves of the boiling water, Put in some blue tea powder.

Spooning out the tea makes me feel so fresh and healthy, Every distraction is eliminated...9

During the Northern Song (960 -1127) dynasty, the drinking of whisked tea 6 Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, 22.

7 Liao Baoxiu, Empty Vessels Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea (Taipei: National Palace Museum of Taipei, 2002), 5.

8 Qian Shilin, eds. & comps., Selected of the ancient China tea poems (Zhongguo Gudai Chashi Xuan) (Zhejiang: Zhejiang Guji Press, 1989), 4.

9 Ibid., 111.

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became more and more popular. Different from the preparation methods of the Tang dynasty, the tea powder is first put into a tea bowl, then water will be added from the ewer while tea is whisked using the spoon or bamboo brush. After the white tea foam appears, the tea will be served in a tea bowl on top of a tea bowl stand. The Northern Garden in Jianan of Fujian followed the tradition of Southern Tang, continuing to produce high quality white tea for the Song imperial court as tribute. A “Transportation Officer” was first sent to the Northern Garden to supervise the production of tribute tea in the Taipingxinguo period (976 – 984). Cai Xiang (1012 – 1067) as a native from Fujian, an upright Confucian scholar, one of the best calligraphers of the Song dynasty, and the follower and friend of the reforming leader Fanzhongyan (989 – 1052), was appointed as Fujian transportation officer in 1044. During the supervision of the production of Northern Garden tribute tea, he improved the manufacturing techniques and invented Little Dragon Tea Cake, which became the most favourite tribute tea for Emperor Renzong (1022 – 1063). In terms of calligraphy, Cai Xiang believed that the work should reflect one's spirit and personality. As one of Cai Xiang's calligraphy masterpieces, the essay Record on Tea not only promoted the Fujian local tea drinking culture and Jian ware tea bowls, but also reflected Cai's honest character, and expanded the influence of Confucian ideas at court. Jian tea and the Jian ware tea bowl became highly esteemed by scholars. Tea drinking together with the appreciation of 16

painting, incense burning and flower arranging; played a significant part in the literati’s life. They believed that the Confucian idea of seeking natural harmony could be achieved by drinking tea. This naturalistic idea was also reflected in the design of tea utensils.

Huizong (1082 – 1135, r. 1100 - 1125) was the eighth Emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. In order to consolidate his rulership and compete for culture leadership with scholars, Emperor Huizong and his prime minister Cai Jing (1047 – 1126) promulgated several culture projects. In order to portray himself as the master of the literati, he wrote poetry, did calligraphy, painted, and published catalogues of the imperial collections.

Playing the role of tea connoisseur and publishing his own essay about tea was also significant. Based on Cai Xiang's Record on Tea, he published the Treatise Tea in the Daguan era. Similar to Cai Xiang, he was esteemed the Jianan tea and the 'hare's fur' Jian ware tea bowl. In addition, he gave detailed instructions for making good whisked tea. As with most of his other art works, this book and the tea drinking culture he promoted, also served the same function of propagating a flourishing, prosperous, and harmonious dynasty under his rule.

The drinking of tea was initially used by some monks to stay awake during meditation and serve as the replacement of food. Due to the flourishing of 17

Chan Buddhism in the Song dynasty, the drinking of whisked tea was widely adopted by monks in Chan monasteries. In addition, similar to ink painting and other forms of Chan art, it was given a new function as an approach to understanding natural harmony and universal truth. As a consequence, a complex tea drinking ritual ceremony was developed in the monasteries. The drinking of whisked tea and ink painting were introduced to Japan together with Chan Buddhism. The Japanese Chan monk Eisai (1141 – 1215) was credited with expanding the popularity of Chan Buddhism and tea drinking in Japan under the support of the samurai class.

The tea ceremony continued to develop in Japan and was the foundation of chanoyu, which first appeared in the early Muromachi period (1333 – 1568).10 Jian ware tea bowls and Chinese ink paintings were highly valued during the Japanese tea ceremony, and they had a great influence on different forms of Japanese arts.

The National Palace Museum of Taipei organised the exhibition Empty Vessels Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice, and Art of Tea in 2002, but it was not specific to the Song dynasty. The Flagstaff House museum of tea-ware has a permanent exhibition on tea-ware, but does not cover other media that are associated with tea drinking culture. The objects that were chosen for this exhibition covered ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, lacquer

10 Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2012), 81.

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and metalwork from the Song dynasty. It explores how the drinking of tea has influenced the aesthetics and forms of Song arts, focusing on three major themes: Tea for the scholar, Imperial tea and Tea for monks.

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Tea for the Scholar

A morally committed scholar What is a morally committed scholar? An upright Confucian scholar, Fanzhongyan (989 – 1052) believed: a morally committed scholar has to make the government more active to benefit local society. He should put his interest to the whole before to himself. Furthermore, he should be concerned with local education and establishing local schools for upwardly mobile commoner families.11 As Fan's ally and follower, Cai Xiang (1012 1067) definitely shared similar ideas.

Cai Xiang (other name Cai Junmo) was born in a native farmer family in Xinhua, Xianyou county in Fujian province. He received his jinshi degree in the eighth year of the Tiansheng reign (1030).12 He was at first appointed to a minor position and was responsible for library censorship in the western capital, Luoyang.13 He soon made his reputation at court when he wrote a group of poems named “Four Worthies and One Unworthy” against the Chief Councillor Lv Yijian (978 - 1043) and his follower Gao Ruona

11 Peter K. Bol, This Culture is Ours: Intellectual Transitions in Tang and Song China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), 170.

12 Ouyang Xiu, 'Epitaph of Duanming Hall Xueshi Cai Gong', Ouyang Wenzhonggong Wen Ji (Collection of Ouyang Xiu's essays), in Shui Laiyou eds., Cai Xiang shufa shiliao ji (The Collection of Historical Documents of Cai Xiang's Calligraphy) (Shanghai: Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Press, 1983), 1 & 3.

13 Tuotuo, 'Biography of Cai Xiang', Song Shi (History of Song), Shui Laiyou eds., Cai Xiang shufa shiliao ji (The Collection of Historical Documents of Cai Xiang's Calligraphy) (Shanghai: Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Press, 1983), 4.

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(997 - 1055) and supporting Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu (1007 - 72), Yin Zhu (1001 - 46) and Yu Jing (1000 - 1064) after Fan was demoted in 1036 for accusing Lv of promoting his own clients to court in order to form a faction to forbid others from addressing different political issues.14 According to History of Song, this group of poems was so popular that almost every scholar at that time was honoured by copying it; even the Liao (907 - 1125) diplomatic envoy bought one copy and hanged in the Youzhao Library.15 As a result, Emperor Renzong (1010 - 1063) realised that he had to open his mind and listen to a wider range of advice, which laid the foundation for the Qingli Reform (1043 – 1044).16

In the third year of Qingli (1043), Emperor Renzong promulgated edicts that allowed his officers to speak out about polices and military affairs directly, no matter what level they were. Cai Xiang than submitted a letter to Renzong to persuade him to be always well prepared for crisis during the time of peace; to always promote and listen to the morally committed officers and demote the officers who have low moral standards; to always be fair and trustworthy and to always focus and make all efforts towards the state’s renaissance.17 After the recommendations of Ouyang Xiu, Yu

14 Amy McNair, 'The Song Calligrapher Cai Xiang', Bulletin of Song- Yuan Studies, 18, 1986, 62.

Bol, This Culture of Ours: Intellectual Transitions in Tang and Song China ,168 – 169.

15 Tuotuo, 4.

16 Huang Jieqiong, 'Cai Xiang li shi di wei zong lun (Discuss of Cai Xiang's Historical Position)', Journal of Longyan Teachers College, 21:5, (October 2003), 57.

Qingli Reform is a minor reform that initiated by Fan Zhongyan and his followers in Qingli period.

17 Lin Aizhi, 'Zhonghui Cai Xiang (Cai Xiang: Loyalty and Honesty)', Wen shi zong heng 2:3 (2010), 86.

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Jing and Wang Su (1007 – 1073) who were promoted to imperial policy critics by Emperor Rezong after reading Cai Xiang's letter, Cai Xiang was also promoted to the same position.18 Cai then submitted a memorandum indicated that “It was good that the court had promoted officers based on their high moral standards like Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing and Wang Su. However, it was not hard to appoint someone to be the policy critic, but it was hard to listen to the critics' opinions, and even if it was not hard to listen to them, it would be hard to adopt their advice. The three people [Ouyang Xiu, Yu Jing and Wang Su] are so loyal and honest that they will advise [your Honour] as well as they can...I hope your Honour will examine their advice carefully, not only give them the title but to listen to them.�19

During the Qingli Reform period, natural disasters were frequent. Cai Xiang in his memoranda Talking about Disasters Differently believed that Emperor Renzong should take full responsibilities for the disasters, because the disasters and inefficient preparations were caused by the improper behaviour of the Emperor. He advised the Emperor should carefully exam himself, immediately repent what he has done, and work more diligently and pragmatically. All Cai's friends at court were worrying Cai would be punished; however, Emperor Renzong was appreciative and accepted his

18 Tuotuo, 4.

19 Ibid, 4-5.

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advice.20

There was another time when another policy critic, Tang Jie, infuriated Emperor Renzong, Renzong was going to send him far away to Chunzhou.

Nobody at court dared to speak for him except Cai Xiang. He reminded Renzong that the Emperor should follow the Song tradition of being tolerant to critics of imperial policy. Renzong accepted his advice, sent Tang to a closer place and re-promoted him one year later.21

Because of all the efforts Cai Xiang and his colleagues had put in, some new policies regarding the development of agriculture and aquaculture, expanding the school system, reform the examinations and reforming the government systems could be promulgated.22

In the year 1044, Cai Xiang was appointed to Fuzhou, then soon was promoted to be the Transportation Officer of Fujian.23 In 1054, Cai was promoted to Longtu Hall Academician and Governor of Kaifeng. He was promoted to Shumizhi Academician and the Governor of Quanzhou and Fuzhou in 1056. When Cai was working in the Fujian area, he helped with 20 Ibid, 5.

21 Lin, 86.

22 Ouyang,1.

Huang, 57.

23 Ouyang, 1.

Fen Ruxia, 'Songdai Fujian Beiyuan Gongcha Yu Cai Xiang Cha Lu de Wenshi (Discussion of Song Tribute Tea of Fujian Northern Garden and Publication of Cai Xiang's Classic of Tea)', journal of Mingjiang University, 28:4 (August 2007), 27.

Please see glossary for the meaning of transportation officer.

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local education, and forbade the extravagance of the local funeral ceremony.24 In addition, he built the famous Wanan Bridge in Quanzhou, which is believed to be the first bridge cross the sea in China. The bridge was made of stone and oysters were used to reinforced the foundation under the water.25 Furthermore, Cai also built five ponds to irrigate farms, and reduced the local Dingkou tax by half.26

However, the most significant policies that Cai had adopted to improve the economics of his hometown were to improve the production of local crops, the promotion of the local culture, and raising the consumption of local crops to a higher cultural level.27 After the improvement of the techniques, the production of lychees and tea were improved dramatically; after the publication of Cai's famous essays Book of The Lychee and Record of Tea, eating lychees and drinking whisked tea became popular across the whole state among the general public, scholars and even Emperors.28 A great calligraphy master Cai Xiang, Shu Shi (1037 - 1101), Huang Tingjian (1045 - 1105) and Mi Fu (1051 - 1107) are known as the four calligraphy masters of the Song

24 Tuotuo, 4.

25 Huang, 57.

26 Tuotuo, 6.

Dingkou tax: pool tax, a tax that was collected according to the numbers of people in one family.

27 Liao Baoxiu, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum) (Taipei: National Palace of Taipei, 2012), 54.

28 Huang, 57.

Record on Tea will be discussed in details in A tea connoisseur.

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dynasty.29 Cai Xiang began his study of calligraphy with his contemporary calligraphy master Zhou Yue (active 1023 - 1048) who was a minor official practising academic style, that is a style of Wang Xizhi (307 - 365) which was promoted by the early Song emperor Taizong (939 – 997). Later Cai had chance to learn the original of Wang's calligraphy.30

29 Guo Jinhua, 'Qiantan Cai Xiang de Shufa Yishu' (Discuss about Cai Xiang's Calligraphy), Journal of Sichuan Vocational and Technical College, 17:3 (August 2007), 43.

30 Ibid, 63.

25

Figure 1

26

Figure 2

Above examples show the significant influences of Wang Xizhi's style on Cai Xiang's calligraphy. The character “之” in Cai's Letter (figure 2) was slightly askew, which was almost written in the same way as Wang Xizhi did in his Sangluan Tie (figure 3). In addition, the control of the vertical lines, the dynamic and virtuoso exercise of the brush strokes are very obvious characteristics inherent from the style of Wang Xizhi.

Although in the early Northern Song court the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi (344 - 386) was being promoted, Ouyang Xiu believed that one's calligraphy reflects one's character, and a scholar should learn calligraphy from an upstanding man. Yan Zhenqing, as an upright 27

Tang official, was a much more worthy teacher than such Southern dynasty aristocrats as Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi.31 According to Amy McNair, the promotion of Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy by Ouyang Xiu and other Confucian reformers had a further political meaning which was to counter imperial styles in all areas of art and literature to achieve their political goal of expending influence in government affairs.32 They claimed that scholars should learn from the past as well as learn from the natural order.33 They were trying to create a peaceful and flourishing society and return to a harmonised natural order.34 As an morally committed scholar, Ouyang Xiu's close friend and a member of the early reformers, Cai Xiang shared similar scholarly values with him. He stated that the reason he liked Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy was because his works reflect his loyalty and filial piety.35

31 Patricia B. Ebrey, Accumulating Culture: The Collections of Emperor Huizong (Canada: University of Washington Press, 2008), 208 – 209.

32 Amy McNair, 'The Engraved Model-Letters Compendia of the Song Dynasty', Journal of the American Oriental Society 114:2 (Apr. - Jun.,1994), 213 – 215.

33 Bol, This Culture of Ours: Intellectual Transitions in Tang and Song China, 2.

34 Peter K. Bol, 'Emperors Can Claim Antiquity Too: Emperorship and Autocracy Under the New Policies', in Patricia Buckley Ebrey & Maggie Bickford eds., Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics (Cambridge and London:Harvard University Press, 2006), 190.

35 Cai Xiang, 'Zha Lu er (Collection of Essays Two)' in Xu Bo eds., Cai Xiang Ji (Collection of Cai Xiang's Essays), Shanghai: Shanghaiguji Press, 1996, 627.

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Figure 3

Yan Zhenqing's style and more importantly the spirit definitely inspired Cai Xiang. Compare Cai Xiang's calligraphy (Figure 2) to Yan Zhenqing's (Figure 3), the high modulation of the brush strokes; sharper lines and the high speed of writing all show a great influence from Yan.

The major characteristic of Cai Xiang's calligraphy is the perfect balance of the spirit and form. Form means the structure of the character, spirit is the personality of the calligrapher.36 In terms of learning from the past, Cai believed that learning the traditional rules of calligraphy from ancient masters was very important. He indicated that all the great Tang calligraphy masters like Ouyang Xun (557 - 641), Yu Shinan (558 - 638), Chu Shuiliang (569 - 658) and Liu Gongquan (778 - 865) learnt from Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi; all the types of calligraphy followed the same certain rules. However, the contemporary Song calligraphers when they were writing seal scripts, always pursued strangeness and forget the ancient 36 Guo, 43.

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rules.37 In addition, Cai believed that when learning calligraphy, one should learn the dao (sprit) of the master first then the style and techniques.38 If one only learnt the form-likeness without studying the spirit of the master, even the form of his calligraphy would look very similar to his master; he would never understand the true meaning of calligraphy.39He suggested that by studying under the right master, one would get the master's dao (sprit); having achieved the dao, the calligraphy would follow naturally.40 This could be considered as another form of naturalism.41 This idea of allowing creative activity to take a natural course is explained by Su Shi through the aphorism: “flows where it will flow, and stops whether it cannot but stop.”

This can be seen in Su Shi’s (1037 – 1101) calligraphy (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Amy McNari indicates that Cai Xiang's approach of the synthesis of the 37 38 39 40 41

Shui, 8 - 9 Cai, 'Daxie Jinshan Shu (Letter of Answering Jingshan)' in Xu, 465.

Shui, 8.

Cai, 'Zai Daxie Jinshan Shu (Second Letter of Answering Jingshan)' in Xu, 467 – 468.

According to Peter K. Bowl in his “This culture of Ours”: Intellectual transitions in Tang and Song China, nature realm is which heaven and earth brough things into being, it is the manifest patterns of the natural order. The early master must learnt the dao (spirit) through the natural order, after one had studied the spirit of the master, once calligraphy would follow naturally.

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styles of Wang Xizhi (307 – 365) and Yan Zhenqing (709 – 785) had a great influence on other calligraphers. Cai's approach of the combination of the regular script and running script initiated a new calligraphic style, Songkai (Song regular script ), also called Xingkai (regular-running script).

It had applied some of the linking of strokes and simplification of elements that are used in running script, and combined the fluidity of running script with the firm structure seen in regular script. The similar elements of this style can be seen in Cai Xiang's Chengxingtang Letter (Figure 5). This style dominated Song calligraphy after 12th CE, and was practised by all later Song scholars and Emperors.42

42 McNair, 'The Song Calligrapher Cai Xiang', 61 & 69 – 70.

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Figure 5

Su Shi and Ouyang Xiu both believed that Cai Xiang was the best of their contemporaries.43 His calligraphy was highly appreciated by the other three calligraphy masters. Su Shi believed that:

Cai Junmo's regular, running, cursive and clerical scripts always follow his ideal. His flying white was transformed by his leftover ideas and consistent energy. People can only appreciate but nobody is able to write like him. People can only learn from him if they can grasp his ideas.44

Huang Tingjian suggested that: 43 Shui, 18 & 20.

44 McNair, 'The Song Calligrapher Cai Xiang', 73.

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Su Zimei learnt from the ancient masters, his calligraphy is full of power, Cai Junmo learnt from the ancient masters; his calligraphy is rounded and introverted.45 Cai Junmo is good at writing small characters, his regular script and running script are the best.46

Mi Fu thinks that: Cai Xiang's calligraphy is like a beautiful young girl, the body is voluptuous, walking slowly and relaxed, wearing beautiful flowers.47

Ouyang Xiu's collections of rubbings of stone inscriptions played the most important role in the movement of learning from the past. Cai Xiang was invited by him to copy out his preface of the collection catalogue due to Cai's incomparable brushwork.48 Ouyang said: Cai Junmo agreed to copy out my book The Preface to the Catalogue of the Past to carve into stone; I am very happy. His calligraphy is so fine and full of energy, it is considered a treasure by the people. I prepare him a brush made of mice beard and weasel tail hair, an iron bush stand, a big and a little dragon tea cake, spring water of Hui mountain; he was very happy and enjoyed it all. A few month later, somebody gave me an Qingquan incense cake; Junmo heard about that and said, the incense cake came too late, that was the only thing I failed to prepare for him [when he was copying out the preface]. We both laughed. 49

Ouyang Xiu not only held Cai Xiang's calligraphy in high esteem, but also knew its power of influence. Cai's calligraphy would definitely add aura to Shui, 21.

Ibid.

Shui, 22.

Ronald Egan, The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Centre, 2006), 7 & 20.

Ouyang Xiu's collections catalogue named Jigu lu mu (Catalogue of the Past).

49 Shui, 18.

45 46 47 48

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his catalogue and help with the movement.

Not only scholars in Song like Cai Xiang's calligraphy, but Emperors also loved his works. As the favourite calligrapher of Emperor Renzong, Cai's calligraphic style was ordered to be learned by all the officials at court. His works were even ordered to be carved into steles for scholars to study. 50 In addition, Cai's works were also highly appreciated by Emperor Huizong (1101 -1125). In the Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue that was edited by Huizong, the writer indicated that: Now we have regular scripted works by forty four calligraphers:...there are eight of them from our dynasty, among the eight people, Song Shou (991- 1040), Cai Xiang and Shi Yannian (994 - 1041) are as good as those ancient masters.

Scholar officer Cai Xiang was very good at calligraphy, pursuing spirits from ancient masters, [his] big characters are several feet, small characters like hair, the structure of his big characters does not lose compactness, the structure of his small characters does not lose its balance. His clerical, fly white, cursive, regular and running scripts are all fantastic, among them all running script is the best. His calligraphy has a special style; brush strokes are so powerful at the same time; the characters are enchanting. Renzong loved his calligraphy so much he asked him to write the Epitaph of Uncle King of Longxi Li Yong. Later Renzoung asked him to write Posy of Empress Wencheng which had originally been composed by another official; Cai rejected it and said a Confucian scholar should only write what he truly felt. Renzong didn't force him. People said, from the past to the contemporary period, only Wang Xianzhi and Cai Xiang could respect their own calligraphy so much. Cai Xiang was also a great connoisseur: he first wrote “Record on tea” then “Book of the Lychee”. People love his works. They copied them out and carved them into stones. They think Cai's calligraphy is like a flying dragon and a dancing phoenix: everybody thinks his is the best in our dynasty. The author believed that his essays written in running script are the best, then his regular script, then his big characters and his cursive script. Now the imperial collection has three of his works in regular script: Poem of Nanjiao 50 Guo, 44.

34

Qingcheng, Record on Tea, and Poem of Record to Ying. ...The best cursive script calligraphers in our dynasty are Qian Shu (929 - 988), Mi Fu, Cai Xiang and Du Yan (978 - 1057).

As a member of early Confucian reformers, an ally of Fan Zhongyan, a life-long friend of Ouyang Xiu, Cai Xiang used his calligraphy to contributed significantly to the propagation of Confucian ideas; he had a great influence among scholars and on government affairs, and laid the foundation for the Qinli reforms.

A tea connoisseur If Lu Yu and his Classic of Tea made the drinking of boiled tea popular in the whole state of the Tang dynasty and gave it a spiritual and culture significance, Cai Xiang as an reformer-scholar of Northern Song, helped the popularity of the local tea and tea bowl among all the Song scholars and emperors; and tea drinking was raised to a higher scholarly, literati level.51

When Cai Xiang was the Fujian transportation officer in the years of Qingli reign (1041 – 1048), he was responsible for the supervision of tribute tea production in Northern Garden.52 Northern Garden was established in the east of Jiancheng of Jianan county of Jianzhou.53 According to Xiong Fan's

51 Liao, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum), 54.

Tea contest is a tea competition game for drinking whisked tea that first appeared in Fujian, it will be discussed in details later.

52 Fen, 27.

53 Ibid, 25.

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Record on Xuanhe Northern Garden Tribute Tea, Northern Garden had been built to produce tribute tea for the Kingdom of Southern Tang (937 975) during the Five Dynasties period (907 – 960). Southern Tang was conquered by Song at the end of Kaibao’s reign (968 – 976). At the beginning of Taipingxingguo’s reign (976 – 984), moulds of Big Dragon and Phoenix Tea Cake were invented and a transportation officer was sent to Northern Garden to produce tribute tea for the Song court.54 When Ding Wei (996 – 1037) was the Fujian transportation officer in Emperor Zhenzong's reign (968 – 1022), the annual production of the tribute tea was less than 100 pieces.55 After Cai Xiang was promoted to Fujian transportation officer, he improved the manufacturing techniques and invented Little Dragon Tea Cake. Different from the Big Dragon Tea Cake, Little Dragon Tea Cake was much finer and instead of 8 pieces per Jin, 1 jin then equaled 28 pieces. Emperor Renzong was highly appreciative of Little Dragon Tea Cake, and asked Cai Xiang to continue making it as tribute tea for the Court. Big Dragon Tea Cake was slowly replaced by Little Dragon Tea Cake.56 Ouyang Xiu in his Record of Returning to the Farm indicated that the Little Dragon Tea Cake was very precious: 1 Jin tea cake was worth 2 liang gold.57 Emperor Renzong never gave any to his officers, or even to his Prime Minister. There was only one time in the 54 Xiong Fan, Xuan He Bei Yuan Gong Cha Lu ( Xuanhe Northern Garden Tribute Tea), in Bao Sitao eds., Cha Dian (Classics of Tea) (Jinan: Shan Dong Shu Hua Bao Chu Ban She, 2004), 81.

55 Fen, 27.

56 Bao, 83 jin: please see glossary.

57 liang: please see glossary.

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Southern Suburban Vegetarian Offering Eve when he gave one Little Dragon Tea Cake to four officers in the Executive Secretariat Department and four officers in Privy Council. The attendants had to cut the tea cake into eight pieces equally, wrap them with golden flower wrap and gave them out.58 Ouyang mentioned in his Record on Dragon Tea that, only by the seventh year of Jiayou (1062) was he given one whole tea cake from Emperor Renzong, and that was the only Little Dragon Tea he got in twenty years.59

Cai Xiang was very happy about his invention of Little Dragon Tea Cake; in one of his Ten Poems of Northern Garden he wrote: Like crumbing jade in a moment, wrapping with new gold paper. Moulded to be like the moon, made just like the rising dragon. Perfect colour and flavour after baking, all appreciate that the firing is just right.60

Although the Little Dragon Tea was already very famous and highly appreciated at court, Cai Xiang wanted to promote the local tea drinking culture and relevant products, in order to further the influence of Confucian ideas on scholars and the Emperor. In 1056 he finished his famous essay Record on Tea.61 In the preface of the essay, Cai indicated that he very much appreciated that Emperor Renzong loved his Little Dragon Tea so 58 Suburban Vegetarian Offering Eve: a Chinese traditional ceremony for ancestor.

Bao, 83.

59 Fen, 27.

60 Cai, 'Beiyuan Shi Yong (Ten Poems of Northern Garden)' in Xu, 32.

The title of this poem is Producing Tea. 61 Ibid, 27 - 28

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much. He believed that Lu Yu's (733 – 804) Class of Tea did not mention Jian'an tea, and Ding Wei's Images of Tea only mentioned the production process of tea but did not mention tea preparation and drinking. In order to return Renzong's favour and help Renzong understand Jian'an tea better, Cai wrote this essay.62

The essay includes two parts, the first part is called Discussion on Tea, in this part, Cai Xiang indicated the standard of a good tea, the process of preparing tea and rules of the tea contest. When discussing the quality of the tea, Cai talked about three aspects, which are colour, favour and taste.

Regarding to the colour of the tea; he believed that the whiter the better. In addition, Cai indicated that when local Jian people drink tea, they would not add any other spices to enhance the fragrance: they worry the spices would take away the natural fragrance of the tea. Furthermore, Cai indicated the best quality tea should taste sweet and smooth. He believed that the taste of tea in Northern Garden is the best; teas from other places were all too strong. Regarding the storage of the tea, Cai suggested that the tea cake should be wrapped with bamboo leaves and then a low fire should be used to bake it for two to three days. The temperature of the fire should be similar to temperature of the human body; if the fire is too strong; the tea would burn and cannot be used. In terms of preparing tea, Cai indicated that tea should be first dried on a light fire and crushed; then the tea should 62 Cai, 'Cha Lu (Record on Tea)', in Bao, 47.

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be ground into powder; the tea powder would then be sifted. Cai believed that the hardest part was boiling the water. The water should be neither over nor under-heated. The tea bowl should be pre-heated before putting in the tea powder. Boiled water then was poured onto the powdered tea and then the mixture was “whipped” with a spoon to produce frothy foam. (Figure 6) Cai continued by introduced the tea contest that was played by the local Jian'an people. He indicated that the rules were, the colour of the foam should be white, and the foam should be long-lasting: whoever’s watermark appeared first would be the loser. In the second part of the essay, Cai Xiang introduced the vessels and tools that were used for tea. For example, there was the tea oven for baking the tea, the tea basket for holding the tea cakes, the crusher for crushing the tea cake, the clip for clipping the tea cake when roasting it, the grinder for grinding the tea, the filter for filtering the tea and the ewer for boiling and pouring water (Figure 7). However, Cai Xiang highlighted the Jian ware tea bowl (Figure 8). He suggested that the Jian ware tea bowl with the hair's fur effect is the best for the tea contest because, first of all, the white form of the Jian'an tea would appear beautiful in a black-glazed tea bowl, and it would be easier to distinguish the winner during a tea contest. Secondly, the clay of the Jian ware tea bowl is so thick it can retain the heat well. The other tea bowls were either of thin clay or had purple glaze: they would not be as good as Jian ware. A tea contest competitor would never use Qingbai tea bowl for a 39

competition.63

Figure 6

63 Ibid, 48 – 51.

40

Figure 7

41

Figure 8

The Record on Tea was written in Cai Xiang's regular script, and then collected by the Song court. As discussed earlier, his calligraphy as a reflection of his moral standards was so highly appreciated that his essay was copied out and carved into stone. Doubtless, this was one of the important aspects that helped the popularity of Record on Tea. When ordinary tea drinking and Jian ware tea bowls were given a new context by Cai Xiang, they had been given a new function and a deeper meaning which was the medium of transmitting or the represention of the idea of being a Confucian scholar of high moral standing. As a consequence, not only did Jian'an tea become very famous but also the Jian ware tea bowl 42

became highly appreciate by scholars.

Cai Xiang in his Ten Poems of Northern Garden wrote: Hare's-fur purple bowl, holding the crab eye green spring water, [the white foams] like snow melting into flowers, or like the white cloud in the sky. [I] wish the waves in your pool, could be the rain falling from the sky.64

Su Shi in another poem wrote: Hare's-fur tea bowl, all the taste of life is turning around on the tongue, thinking about the past in Qingzou, [I] had defeated billions of nightmare devils, but cannot dream about one quiet balcony. I have nothing to worry about any more, just want to fly to Penglai.65

Mei Xiaochen (1002 - 1060) in his Ciyun Singing with Yongshu Trying the New Tea:

... recent tea from Jian'an, people no matter rich or poor are all begging to buy one ... hanging the little tea cakes on belt, complete with the foam with the colour for which the winner receives admiration ... It's totally different from the northern course people, only knowing the white and fat66... bright moon open window grinding the snow powder...hare's fur purple glazed tea bowl is so perfect, don't need to seek shrimp in the clear spring water...67

In the Song dynasty, the Confucian idea was under the influence of Buddhism and Daoism.68 As the product of nature, scholars believed they

64 Cai, 'Beiyuan Shi Yong (Ten Poems of Northern Garden)' in Xu, 32.

The title of this poem is Testing Tea. 65 Fen, 26.

Penglai is in Shandong province; it was where the eight Daoist immortals cross the sea.

66 The milk tea that was drunk by Mongolians.

67 Liao, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum), 34.

68 Dieter Ku, The age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China (London: The Belknap

43

could achieve their Confucian idea of seeking natural harmony and universal truth by drinking tea.

This idea can be seen in Li Gongling's landscape painting Mountain Villa (see Plate 3). In the Jade Dragon Gorge, there is a scholar paying his respect by serving a cup of tea to a monk besides the river. The tea was held in a white tea bowl and placed on top of a dark tea bowl stand.

Qing Guan’s (1049 – 1100) poem Tea also expressed the similar idea: Tea is the marrow of the best tree, its fragrance is nature born.

The sweetness would not stronger than calla, the lightness would not cover the daisy. 69

Scholars believe tea has the same moral spirit as themselves. Yuan Xie (1144 – 1224) in his poem Thanks to the Prosecutor of Wu for Giving me Jian’an Tea: The shape is square; the spirit is light and special. So I think it just like a scholar, respectable and cannot be insulted.70

Yu Ke (1138 – 1243) in his poem Tea Flowers Blooming Full on the Hill: Clean and humble like a secluded gentleman, forbearance and dignity like scholarly official.71

In the Tang dynasty, scholars think appreciating beauty includes: tea

Press of Harvard University Press), 99.

69 Wang Xuan, 'Song Dai Cha Wen Hua yu Shi Da Fu Yi Shi (Song tea culture and scholar's value)', Wen Hua Yi Shu Yan Jiu (Culture and Art Studies), (August 2009), 84.

70 Ibid, 85.

71 Ibid.

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appreciating, song appreciating, incense appreciating, zither appreciating, poem appreciating and flower appreciating and so on. Scholars in the Song dynasty also associated tea drinking with other activities like censing (incense burning), hanging paintings and flower arrangement which formed the Four Arts of Life. In addition, they think scholars should good at four things which were qin72, qi73, calligraphy and painting.74

Mei Xiaochen in his poem For the party for drinking tea, appreciating painting and listening to the zither talks of: Playing zither and appreciating ancient painting, drinking tea while I am expecting the next party.75

These scholarly activities can also be seen in Zhang Lei’s (1054 – 1114) poem Travelling to Wuchang: Looking at paintings and drinking tea make me drunk and satisfied, but after returning home, the empty house makes me feel lonely. 76

Song people liked to experience beauty through watching, listening, smelling and tasting in order to reach inner peace and attain natural harmony.77 Censing as the way of appreciating beauty through the sense of smell was always associated with tea drinking. Liu Chang (1019 – 1068) in 72 Qin: Chinese zither.

73 Qi: Chinese Go. 74 Liao, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum),186.

75 Liao, Cha Yun Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum),187.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

45

his poem Poem of with Xun Zhongzhi in Fishing Village said:

A stick of incense a bowl of tea with me, this life worthwhile.78

Su Shi also mentioned in his poem Visiting temples in Mid-Autumn: Burning the censor calmed my walk, drinking tea cleaned the party.79

Therefore, the objects associated with the scholars’ daily life – landscape painting, the qin (Plate 5), the incense burner (Plate 6) and the flower vase (figure 9) as well as tea drinking vessels such as tea bowl (Plate 4 and 9), tea bowl stand (figure 10 and plate 8) –would also reflect Confucian ideas.

78 Ibid, 188.

79 Ibid.

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Figure 9

47

Figure 10

For example, in terms of naturalism, the shape of the flower vase (figure 8) is simple: the clay was just naturally rising following the potter's hand when the wheel was turning. Human interference was reduced to a minimum. In addition, the neck of the vase imitates a bamboo branch, which is another aspect of naturalism. Similar ideas appeared in lots of Song ceramics and lacquer wares. Other examples of imitating natural plants and decorations with natural elements can also be seen in the Qingbai ewer (figure 7) and Ding cup stand (figure 10).

As a reformer-scholar and a partisan of Fan Zhongyan's push for moral renewal, Cai Xiang was actively involved in court activities, exhibiting an 48

upright moral standard, and expanding the influence of Confucian ideas through his mastery in calligraphic and literary skills. Record on Tea, as one of his masterpieces, through expanding the popularity of tea drinking, not only make Confucian ideas more widely accepted by Song scholars, but also successfully conveyed Confucian ideas to later Song Emperors – with the most extraordinary example of scholar-Emperors in this period being Song Huizong (1082 – 1135, r. 1100 - 1125).

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Imperial Tea

Emperor Huizong: A Reformer In the year 1100, after Huizong's eldest brother Emperor Zhezong (1076 – 1101, r. 1085 – 1101) past away, as the eleventh son of Emperor Shenzong (1048 – 1085, r. 1067 – 1085), Huizong succeeded to the throne.80 As the one who selected Huizong, the Empress Dowager Xiang ruled together with Huizong, although most of the time she did no more than just approve Huizong's decisions.81 After about half a month the Empress Dowager Xiang passed away, and Huizong began to rule by himself.82 During the first two years Huizong and his councillor Zeng Bu (1036 - 1107) were trying to maintain a balance of power between the reform party and the opposition but soon he gave up and chose the reformers side, and Cai Jing (1047 - 1126) was appointed to be his grand councillor.83 As it is not the orthodox way of succeeding to the throne, as the Emperor's younger brother instead of his son, and Huizong wasn't trained to be a future Emperor when he was young, Huizong's fear that his rule would be questioned was well founded. In order to consolidate his throne, he and Cai Jing decided to respect the wishes of his father Shenzong and his brother 80 Liu Jingzhen, 'Fagu? Fugu? Zi wwo zuogu? Song Huizong Wenhua Zhengce de Lishi Guanzhao (Uising the Past: The Historical Vision of Song Huizong's Cultureal Policy)', in Wang Yaoting eds., Conference on Founding Paradigms: Papers on the Art and Culture of the Northern Song Dynasty (Taipei: National Palace Museum Press, 2008), 418.

81 Ebrey & Bickford, 9.

82 Liu, 451.

83 Ebrey & Bickford, 9.

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Renzong, and continue the New Polices that were promulgated in their reigns.84 Those policies included tea and salt monopolies, the hired service system, and the square field land tax system.85 In addition, according to John Chaffee, Cai's reforms went much further in education, charity and the imperial clan.86 Huizong hoped Cai Jing could use these new policies to increase the national revenue and stabilise the social order.87 However, as John Chaffee points out, while some of the new policies, such as the new tea and salt monopolies, did help fill the national and imperial coffers, the polices on education and the imperial clan involved unprecedented government investment.88 A Sage–King As the same time as the new policies were being implemented, Huizong also initiated several cultural projects.89 In order to recover antiquity and honour the Rites of Zhou, the casting of the nine bronze tripods and the refashioning of court music as two major projects were executed in 1102.90 According to Liu Jingzhen, in Chinese mythology, the casting of the nine tripods was original the contribution of the legendary Yellow Emperor, then they past down to the Shang dynasty (1600 – 1050 BC) then to the Zhou dynasty (1100 – 221 BC), and became the symbol of the throne and the 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

Liu, 449 - 455.

Ebrey & Bickford, 10.

John Chaffee, 'Huizong, Cai Jing and Politics of Reform', in Ebrey & Bickford, 33.

Liu, 457.

Chaffee, 57 – 58.

Ebrey & Bickford,11.

Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 151 & 159.

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order of heaven and earth. Huizong's nine tripods except the one placed in the middle was used to worship the earth, the remaining eight of them were placed in eight different directions were used to worship the eight different solar - terms.

These nine tripods represented imperial power to the cosmos.91 They were used to tune the “yellow bell” based on the length of the pitch pipes that had been set by the Huang Emperor. However, the true tone of the tuning bell was believed to have been lost in Han (206 BC – 220 AD) times. Wei Hanjin the music expert that was recommended by Cai Jing suggested that since great sage king Yu had used the length of the different fingers of the hand to set the length of the pitch pipes, he could use the measurements of Huizong's middle, fourth and fifth finger to revive the method.92 The casting of the nine cauldrons was completed in 1105. According to Cai Tao, after the installation of the cauldrons and the performance of the new set of sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor, a thousand cranes flew above the temple, the painting Auspicious Cranes recorded this event (figure 11). The bells were cast based on the Duke of Song’s bells, which had recently been discovered (figure 12). After the nine cauldrons and a full set of bells had been cast in 1105, the new music called Dashengyue was complete.93 Wei's music theory of using parts of the Emperor's body as the measurement of 91 Liu, 458.

92 Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 159.

Liu, 458.

93 Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 162.

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pitches was actually very political: it not only let Huizong overhaul court music in the way he wanted but also stood as strong proof that Huizong as the Emperor was chosen by the heaven and earth.94 In the second year of Daguan (1108), Huizong promulgated several new polices to recovery the “Rites of Zhou”, and to follow the “Methods of Three Dynasties”. The two books Reforms of Crown Rites, and Book of Rites in the Daguan Era were edited by Huizong himself. The purpose of formulating the rites is to regulate the social classes and for the Emperor to further control the social order. Wu Hong indicated that the functions of the nine cauldrons were not only to commemorate a past event, but also to consolidate a centralised political power. They not only became a symbol of a political power, but they were also the power itself. The ruler who owns the cauldrons was one who was virtuous and ought to enjoy Heaven's favour.95 The same idea was definitely held by Huizong, no matter whether it was casting nine cauldrons, composing the Dachengyue, or formulating rites, the symbolic meanings of the authority of Empire's power was much more important than the practical meaning of managing the social order.96 If Huizong felt that these activities were not enough for him to consolidate his power, promoting Daoism must have given him extra security. In 1117, he named

94 Joseph S. Lam, 'Huizong Dashengyue, a Musical Performance of Emperorship and Officialdom', in Ebrey & Bickford, 441 – 443.

95 Wu Hong, Monumentality: in Early Chinese Art and Architecture (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 1995, 5 – 6.

96 Liu, 460 – 463.

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himself Great Sovereign of Long Life and eldest son of the Jade Emperor.97 By promoting himself as the son of heaven and earth, he expected people to believe he was the same as the ancient sage king, following the orders of the cosmos.

Figure 11

97 Ibid, 463

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Figure 12

A Scholar Emperor If the recovery of the performance of ancient rituals and ancient rites, promoting Daoism and acted as a sage king can be seen as the activities that guaranteed the mandate of Heaven, then his expansion of the school system, expenditure on the imperial library, and publishing catalogues for the imperial collection can be considered as the actions to recast the relationship between the Emperor and the scholars, to compete for culture leadership with the scholars and to guarantee the political and cultural tradition of the secularised state.98 In early Song time, Emperors had the tradition of presenting themselves as patrons of culture which included placing excellent calligraphers in important posts, writing poetry at 98 Patricia Ebrey, 'Rethinking Imperial Art Collecting: The Case of the Northern Song', in Wang Yaoting, 471.

55

imperial banquets, making gifts of imperial calligraphy, sponsoring the publication of books and encyclopaedias, and building up the Palace Library.99 However, according to Ebrey, neither Shenzong nor Zhezong put much effort into promoting themselves as men of culture. Huizong hoped to return to the early Song tradition of Emperors acting as the centre of the scholars.100 One example is the collecting of antiquities. Although in the 11th Century private scholars such as Ouyang Xiu, Liu Chang (1019 – 1068), Li Gonglin and Lv Dalin (1044 – 1093) were the pioneers of antiquities collecting, and by the time Huizong successed to the throne the court was much behind in the collection and study of antiquities compared to scholars, Huizong benefited from the research that had been done by private scholars and collected numerous items from important collectors and their families. In addition, the catalogue of antiquities that he produced, titled Illustrated Antiquities of Xuanhe was the best one produced in the 11th century.101 Apart from the antiquities catalogue, Huizong also complied the Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue and the Xuanhe Painting Catalogue to expose certain features of the imperial collections. As Huizong's catalogues required a large amount of labour, material and financial resources, these catalogues can also be seen as a symbol of cultural power. In addition, through publishing these calligraphy and painting catalogues, he could promote some artists that supported him and downgrade some artists that 99 100 101

Ibid., 472 – 473.

Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 42.

Wang Yaoting, 479.

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he believed would negatively affect his rule.102

Cai Jing was a good example. As Huizong's own grand councillor, his calligraphy works takes the most parts of Huizong's collection (seventyseven pieces), which were three times more than the next Song calligrapher. In order to promote Cai, Huizong made Cai Jing's entry in the Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue one of the longest. The editor first described Cai as an honourable, good looking man, proficient in classics and history.

Then gave both highly complementary summaries of his political contributions and his artistic achievements. He stated that, Cai was excellent in any style of calligraphy, and when he was writing imperial orders he never needed to make a second draft. He first learnt calligraphy from Shen Chuanshi (769 － 827), then from Wang Xizhi. In addition, the calligraphy catalogue mentioned that he was the cousin of Cai Xiang who was believed to be the best Calligrapher of the Song dynasty. Cai Jing fully caught Cai Xiang's spirit, and when he was writing, he was putting him on a par with Cai Xiang. The catalogue then said, critics believe Jing's calligraphy exceeded Xiang in gracefulness.103

102 103

Ibid, 480 – 483.

Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 253 – 254.

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Figure 13

The catalogure declared that Cai Jing's regular script was like an upright official wearing hat and sword debating in court. His running script was like a young noble full of spirit and glory. His large characters were considered the best from ancient to modern (figure 13).104 Huizong would sometimes let Cai Jing to inscribe his paintings (Figure 14)105. He definitely

104 105

Ibid., 253.

Also see plate 7. Literary Gathering, Cai Jing inscribed a poem on the right top of the painting.

58

wanted to promote Cai Jing to the pinnacle of calligraphers.

Figure 14

59

Huizong also set a public image for himself as master in the three excellences: poetry, calligraphy and painting. The “Slander Gold” calligraphy style he invented was so distinctive (as an example see plate 7 in which the inscription was written by Huizong the upper-right corner of the painting ). The fine and sharp brush strokes showed his capacity for control, order and precision.106 Among Huizong's paintings, there were a large number of flower and bird paintings. Maggie Bickford believed that most of them were actually painted by Huizong's painters in the Palace of Sagacious Contemplation rather than his own hand, and these paintings were as instruments to promulgate news of auspicious events that happened in court, and can thus be considered as instruments of cultural rule rather than as precious, decorative pictures produced by a self-indulgent aestheteEmperor. The combination of poems and image (figure 15) showed the influences of Su Shi's artistic ideas, and reflected the elimination of the distinction between literati and court culture, so that court became the centre of literati culture.107 Similarly to Huizong's paintings, his palace poems are also celebrated. Most of them, however, were written by his courtiers and were believed to be intended to eliminate the personal disappointment and frustration, and to create an illusion of a palace full of happiness, beauty, reinforced frequently by auspicious signs.108 This can be seen from his poems: 106 Ebrey & Bickford, 20.

107 Maggie Bickford, 'Huizong's Paintings: Art and the Art of Emperorship', in Ebrey & Bickford, 482 – 513.

108 Ronald Egan, 'Huizong's Palace Poems', in Ebrey & Bickford, 382.

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no. 151 On a clear morning, the post messenger announces a phoenix report, Congratulations are exclaimed at the Purple Mansion, where the hat-pins and tassels gather.

From Qanning comes news of the latest auspicious sign, For several nights the Yellow River flowed clear, right down to the bottom. no.153 The Music Bureau proclaims the music that had long been lost, Our ruler personally set the tonal standards, reforming the wanton and indecent.

At Long Gate winged cranes come to soar and dance, It is only correct and proper that His Majesty be esteemed. no.8 Authentic brushwork by Xi and Xian exceed anything from antiquity, Only an exhaustive search brought them to the imperial seat.

Retiring from court, aloe-wood is lit in the ancient bronze tripod, The frost-white hairs are blackened to practise writing again.�109

Figure 15

Promoting tea can also be considered as part of Huizong and Cai Jing's cultural project and as part of the campaign to compete for cultural leadership with the scholars. Especially after Cai Jing promulgated the new tea monopoly policy in 1103, the aim of which was to increase the national finances by controlling the tea trade. Huizong would need scholars to 109

Ibid, 383 – 387.

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support this new policy, and let more people enjoying drinking tea. In addition, as tea drinking was already highly appreciated by scholars, Huizong was not satisfied with only playing the role of being the master of calligraphy, painting and poetry, but also wanted to be an expert in tea drinking. He used to organise various royal banquets and parties, as part of the events he would show the books, bronzes, calligraphy or paintings from his collection to his senior officials. Then Huizong would make tea for them. Sometimes he even personally held the ewer to pour. After tea drinking, they would watch female musicians perform and Huizong would ask his guests to write poems.110

Wang Anzhong (1076 - 1134) in his Poem and Preface of the Rui Mo Hall Party indicated that tea containers and incense burners in the Royal banquet were all made of five-coloured glass. The treasures that were displayed for appreciation by Huizong included Yudun, Ding and Shang Pan. In addition, he said, Huizong was pouring wine and giving food to them in person. Wang also indicated that Huizong was an expert in whisking tea. He said, when they were drinking tea, they were using spring water from the Hui Mountain, the Jian ware hare's fur tea bowl and the newly tributed Taiping Jia Rui tea. Huizong would whisk tea powder and pour water personally, and in just a minute the white foam appeared like

110

Ebrey, Accumulating Culture, 122 – 123.

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stars and the moon in the sky.111

Tea was served as refreshment after drinking wine in the Royal banquets.

Huizong in his Palace Poem wrote: Mother of pearl and other jewellery were placed inside the box, the good smell of the Jian'an tea came from the glass container.

The hare's fur Jian ware tea bowl contained the cloud liquid, can vanish the red from my face and help me to sleep.

Royal banquets and parties every year, cranes were flying in the sky.

Music performance was completed but the officials were still expecting, to listen to the next song and drink the newest tribute tea.112

Only by showing off the skills of preparing whisked tea in Royal banquets and writing about tea and tea vessels in his palace poems would not be enough to make Huizong a tea expert. In addition, after Cai Xiang published the Record on Tea, there were several scholars who had also published essays on tea, such as Record on Trying Tea in East Creek by Song Zian, Record on Key of Tasting Tea by Huang Ru and Tea Policies in Our Dynasty by Shen Kuo (1031 – 1095). However, there were no Emperors before Huizong who had written any essays or books on tea. As a scholar-Emperor, and in order to take the culture leadership back to court, Huizong published the Treatise on Tea in the Daguan Era. (hereafter Treatise on Tea) in 1107. His desire to represent a rich, thriving society

111 112

Yi Ruofen, 'Heaven's Blessing for a Thousand Years: Huizong's Literary Gathering and its Poetic Inscriptions', in Wang Yaoting, 358.

Ibid, 357.

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under his rule can be seen in the preface. He claimed that, now the society was thriving, the whole state was at peace, everything was in order, and that all because of following the ancient sage's way, the rule of inaction. The educated elites, scholars, and high class people were all drinking tea to show their elegancy. Recently, the production and the quality of the tea had both reached their highest peak. The rise and fall of everything, all followed the nature order, society and the Empire were the same. When society was very poor, all the people had to work very hard to get the necessities, they could not even have enough food to eat; how could they have time to enjoy a cup of tea? Now society had been at peace for several generations, people were relaxed and society was rich; even poor people were picky about food. And scholars were at leisure and elegant; when they had time, they would grind and drink tea and enjoy tea contests with their friends; even the poor scholars won't feel shame about collecting high quality tea: this was the sign of great dynasty.113

Then he believed, to rule this dynasty, it was best to let people fully use their talents; as with the essence of the grass or the trees, as an analogy, they should be fully used based on their functions.

At the end, He stated the reason he wrote this book was because he had time to do some research on tea, and wrote his findings down to let people in later generation know how wonderful the tea culture was in this time. 114

Huizong's Treatise on Tea definitely took credit for the research that had been done by previous scholars. Especially Cai Xiang's Record on Tea, as one of the calligraphy masterpieces collected in the Imperial library, 113 114

Zhaoji, 'Da Guan Cha Lun (Treatise Tea in Daguan era.)', in Ruan, 89.

Ibid.

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Huizong must have read it several times. However, Treatise on Tea is different from the Record on Trying Tea in East Creek which talked about different tea baking places in Northern Garden, different names and kinds of tea, the process of picking tea and way of distinguish the bad tea; it differs too from Record on Key of Tasting Tea which discussed the tea production process in detail. It is more like an extended version of Record on Tea; however, the discussion not only covered tea and tea vessels, but also the environment and weather for growing tea and the famous names of tea from different places. Particularly, in order to show his master skills in whisking tea, Huizong spent a long chapter on preparing tea. Compared to the similar chapter in Record on tea, whereas Cai Xiang only generally introduced the preparation of whisked tea and the tea contest game, Huizong gave two examples of bad techniques, and suggested the right way to whisk tea. He carefully introduced the best way to stir the powder into cream and to pour the water when preparing: There are many different ways to prepare whisked tea... The real master would pour the water according to the among of tea, and stir the powder into a sticky cream. One should pour the water around the wall [of the tea bowl]; do not break the tea cream. One should pour gently, first only stirring the tea cream, and then slowly expanding the whisking. The hand should be gentle but the bamboo brush should be strong; use the fingers to hold the brush and turn the wrist, through the bottom to top, the foam will start appearing.

When like the starts appearing from the sky, the base of the tea will be done. The second time pouring the water into the surface of the tea [cream], and pouring around the wall [of the tea bowl] once.

This has to be fast and the surface of the tea [cream] cannot be moved. Then whisking with the strength of the fingers, the colour is slowly appearing, and the foam becomes fine. The third time should be pouring more water, whisking like before, slowly and gently, whisking in a circular manner, from bottom to top: there will be more foam, and the colour of the tea should appeared sixty 65

to seventy present. The fourth time one should pour less water, the brush should be whipped very slowly, and the full colour of the tea will mostly have appeared. The fifth time one can pour a bit more water; the tea should be whipped gentle through to the bottom. If the foam is not enough, it should whip more strongly; if the foam is enough, it should whip slightly. [Now] the colour of the foam should be like snow, the colour of the tea has totally appeared. The sixth pouring should depending on the situation; it should be whisked very gently. The last pouring, if poured gently, [the colour of the tea] would be lighter, if poured strongly, it would be darker; one should whisk to make the tea not too thick but not too thin.

Lots of foam will be appearing, following the wall of the tea bowl and rising from the surface of the tea; turning the [tea bowl] [the foam] would not move... 115

In terms of the tea bowl, Huizong agreed with Cai Xiang's idea that hare'sfur Jian ware tea bowls were the best, because the black glaze was good for the appearance of the white tea. He further indicated that the tea bowl should be deep and wide, since it would be easier for the tea powder to become creamy and easier for whisking. Then he suggested the choice of the tea bowl should depend on the amount of the tea powder; if the tea bowl was too tall and the tea was less, it would be hard for the colour of the tea to appear, and if there was too much tea and the tea bowl was too small, the tea would be too thick.116

115 116

Ibid, 90 – 94.

Ibid.

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Tea for monks One of the earliest written evidence of the consumption of tea in monasteries can be seen in Feng Yan's Fengshi wenjian ji. He indicated that during the Kaiyuan era (713 – 741) the Chan master Xiangmo of the Lingyang Monastery at Mountain Tai used to drink tea to stay alert during meditation. In addition, due to the rule that monks should not eat solids after noon, he was drinking tea as the replacement. Soon all his followers adopted this habit. Tea drinking was first limited to the monks in Southern monasteries; however, due to the fact that they were expected to visit different places as part of their training, the habit quickly spread out to the northern monasteries. Apart from the above two functions of tea drinking in monasteries, monks also drank tea because they believed tea has medicinal properties. In addition, they also offering tea to Buddha and provided tea to guests.117

There are frequent references in writings reflecting the close association between tea and Chan monks. The Collection of Talisman in All Dynasties, which was written at the end of eighth century in Sichuan, recorded several stories of monks received tea as gifts and compiled poems on the virtues of tea drinking. The Transmission of the Lamp, which was complied by monk Dao Yuan of Northern Song, referred frequently to monks offering tea to 117 John Kieschnick, The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003), 267 - 271.

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Buddha, Chan masters drinking tea and monks preparing tea in the tea hall.118 In addition, Chan monks drinking tea were also depicted by Song painters Zhou Jichang and Lin Tinggui in their group of paintings Five Hundred Luohans (see plate 12).

Yuan Zhen (779 – 831) described Chan monks love of tea drinking. In his poem tea he wrote: “Tea Fragrant leaves tender shoots admired by poets loved by monks...”119

Gao Shi (706 - 765) in his poem Record to Chenshiliu at Kaishan Temple wrote “Reading books cannot compare with reading scriptures, and drinking wine is not as good as drinking tea.” which reflected his admiration of the monastic life.120 Chan monks also cultivated tea near their monasteries during the Tang and Song periods. Zhang Ji (c.767 – c.830) mentioned this in his poem In the mountain to Monk Rinan: “using the stones to open the well, crossing the forest to cultivate the tea.”121

Chan monks also submitted tea as tribute to the Emperors in the Tang and 118

119 120

121

Collection of Talisman in All Dynasties, known as Lidai Fabao Ji. The Transmision of the Lamp known as Jingde Chuan Deng Lu. Kieschnick, 268 - 269.

Kieschnick, 270.

Ibid, 268 – 271.

Collection of Talisman in All Dynasties, Lidai fabao ji, is a history book about the Dharma of Chan Buddhism.

Ibid., 269.

Record to Chen Shiliu in Kaishan Temple: Tong quan gong su Kaishansi zeng Chen Shiliu suoji.

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Song period. In addition, the Emperors usually rewarded the extraordinary monks with gifts of tea and tea utensils. The tea set (figures 16, 17, and 18) that was excavated in Famen monastery was originally a imperial gift donated to the temple by the Emperor Yizong in 869.122

Figure 16

122

Ibid., 273.

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Figure 17

Figure 18 In order to understand why tea drinking played so important a part in Chan monastic life, we need to understand the concept of Chan Buddhism. The history and the origins of Chan Buddhism remain uncertain. Legends believed that Sakyamuni handed down the special methods of his later teaching to his chief disciple Kashipa who was believed as the first Chan 70

patriarch. Kashipa then passed on the secret to Ananda, who then imparted it to successive patriarchs until it reached the twenty-eighth patriarch Bodhidharma.123 Bodhidharma as the first patriarch of Chinese Chan is said to have arrived in the north of China from south Indian around 530.

Different from the mainstream practices of Buddhism at that time, he selected few of what he believes to be the real dharma to teach his followers. He believed that the Lankāvatāra sutra was the key to Buddhahood.124 Chan Buddhism signifies meditation; it claims meditation helps with the understanding which would lead to the self-realisation of the Buddhahood and self-enlightenment.125 The methods of Bodhidharma Chan can be summarised as: “a belief in the universalisation of the true nature shared by all sentient beings; a commitment to the self-enlightening capacity of that nature, and a preference for realising that nature through the cultivation of the mind.”126 During about the 7th to 8th century, Chan Buddhism was split into the Northern School which was believed to have been established by the Chan master Shenxiu (606 - 706) and Southern School which was established by Chan master Shenhui who claimed himself the disciple of master Huineng (638 - 713) who was generally believed as the sixth patriarch of Chinese Chan. Gradual enlightenment was taught by the Northern School, while sudden enlightenment was

123 124 125 126

Kakuzo Okakuru, The Book of Tea (Otowa: Kodansha International Ltd.), 1989, 66 - 67.

Tu Wei Ming, 'Chan in China: A Reflective Interpretation', in Helmut Brinker et. cl. eds., Zen in China, Japan, East Asian Art (Berne: Peter Lang Publishers, Inc.), 1985, 9 - 10.

Okakuru, 66 – 67.

Tu, 10.

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emphasised by the Southern School. Later in the Tang period (late 8 th century to 10th century) the Northern School was on the wane and the teaching of the Southern School became the orthodoxy.127 During the Song dynasty, the House of Linji was one of the Southern Chan Schools dominant among others.128 Due to the friendly relations with the court, Chan Buddhist monks were often involved in political affairs and greatly enhanced the culture of the Song period.129 Therefore, Chan interacted deeply with Confucianism and Daoism. Similar to the practice of Daoism, Chan meditation also emphasised self-concentration and the proper regulation of the breath. Like Daoism, Chan believes that nothing is real: it's all illusion from one's own mind. In addition, Chan focuses on direct communication with the inner nature of things; the outward trappings are considered as impediments to the clear perception of Truth and the seeking of 'Emptiness'.130

A famous Chan poem that was attributed to the Sixth Patriarch Huineng clearly explained the concept of 'Emptiness': There is fundamentally no such tree called bodhi [tree]; nor is the bright mirror [stand] an [actual] stand.

[Fundamentally] Nothing exists; Where could any dust be attracted?131 Heinrich Dumoulin, translated by James W. Heisig and Paul Knitter, Zen Buddhism: A History, Vol.1 (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company & London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1988), 107 – 115.

128 Ibid., 244.

129 Dumoulin, 243.

130 Okakuru, 57 – 71.

131 The title of this poem called Puti Ben Wu Shu (There is fundamentally not such a tree called Bodhi).

127

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In Chan Buddhism, the bodhi tree represents the way to Buddhahood, and bodhi means the fruits of cultivating Buddhahood which equals the enlightened and illuminated mind.132 This poem indicated that 'Emptiness' is the fundamental true nature of sentient beings which is Buddhahood. If everything is illusion coming from the mind, including the bodhi tree and the bright mirror stand; then how and where could any dust, which represents trouble and worries, is attracted? Therefore, the true Buddhahood, 'Emptiness' is inner serenity and secluded tranquillity. 133 The idea of seeking natural harmony can also be found in the Confucian classics. The Confucian ideas of establishing harmony and the proper balance of Heaven, Earth and humans, among nature, society and family, can be achieved through proper ritual; which is quite similar to Chan's idea of seeking inner harmony by practising meditation and preforming according extensive sets of ritualised rules to instruct the actions of monks in the Chan monasteries.134

Chan believes that tea drinking also required seeking of inner peace, harmony, self- concentration, respect, serene, secluded and tranquility.135

132 133 134 135

Zhang Zhongyuan, trans. & intros., Original Teachings of Chan Buddhism: selected from The Transmission of the Lamp (New York: Pantheon Books, 1969), 36 & 125.

Wang Zhengqiu, eds. & coms., Chan Shi San Bai Shou (Selected Three Hundred Chan Poem) (Guangxi: Li Jiang Press, 1999), 21.

Wilson, xxix.

Wu Jingyi, 'The Relationship between Tiantai Set and Tea Zen (Tiantai Zong yu Cha Chan de Guanxi)', Journal of Chinese Language and Literature of National Taipei University 1 (2006), 263.

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Chan Master Zhaozhou Congshen (779 – 897) believed that tea can help the mind to achieve a serene nature and in seeking inner harmony. In his poem he wrote: Drinking tea, eating rice, I pass my time as it comes; Looking down at the stream, Looking up at the mountain, How serene and relaxed I feel indeed!136

Tang poet Liu Yuxi (772 – 842) also indicated that tea suits secluded tranquillity. In his poem In the Xishan Mountain Lanruo monastery tasting tea, he wrote:

...The fragrance of the tea comes in from the nose, it infiltrates into the marrow and clears the worries of the mind...

The monk said the taste of tea suits secluded tranquillity, pick them up [from the tea tree] and prepare for the guest...

If you want to understand the real tranquil taste [of the tea], you have to be living in the mountain.137

The Chan monk Jiaoran, who is the best friend of Lu Yu, suggested that the way of tea is fullness and harmony. People can understand Chan through understanding the way of tea. Drinking tea can help with staying awake, refreshing the mind, and most importantly, can help with reaching sudden enlightenment. In his poem Song of tea drinking: written to Chui Shishi he wrote: People from Yue gave me famous tea from Yanxi; 136 137

Wang Zhengqiu, 141.

Qian Shilin, eds. & coms., Selected of the ancient China tea poems (Zhongguo Gudai Chashi Xuan) (Zhejiang: Zhejiang Guji Press, 1989), 154.

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I use the gold ding to boil it.

The fragrance was floated from the snow white foam in the monochrome tea bowl, Just like immortal's flower essential!

First drink eliminates my sleepiness; my mind is full of happiness among heaven and earth; the second drink clears my mind, just like the sudden rain clears all the dust; Third drink, I reach sudden enlightenment, why do you need the hard practice to eliminate worries.

Nobody knows the nobility and honesty of tea, people drink wine to lie to themselves.

Looking at the tea bowl at night, I am happy with Taoqian's country life.

After Cuihou drinks tea, he cannot stop praising, He can only sing a surprised song.

Who knows the fullness and harmony of the way of tea?

Only the immortals understand.138

Song scholar Chen Zhirou (c. 12 century) believed that “tea and Chan have the same taste�. In his poem he wrote: Giant stone appeared in the sky is an accident, Thousands of thunder claps run from the mountain where the fall flies.

Great mountain is guarding the three thousand worlds, In the secluded place always lived five hundred immortals.

The tower in the cloud can be seen in the late night, The sound of the bells in the rain can be passed to this side of the creek.

I come [here] but do not need to practise [meditation of] listening and mind, Just relaxing and trying to talk about the taste of Chan in the tea bowl.139

Tao Gu (903 - 971) in his book Record of Qingyi indicated that the Chan monk Shamen Fuquan was very good at whisking tea, and knew how to create illusions with tea. By special skills of pouring water and using the spoon, he could turn the tea foam into poems or pictures of flowers, birds, insects, fish and grass. These illusions would disappear in a second. These

138 139

Kieschnick, 266.

Wu Jingyi, 273.

Wu Jingyi, 265.

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were called the Hundred Dramas of Tea.140

This paradoxical philosophy concerning illusion and reality is similar to Chan's idea of everything being an illusion that is generated by the mind.

By understanding the tea illusions, one can understand Chan's teachings about life. Similar ideas of formless and unreality, “being and non-being” can also be seen in the ink paintings of the Song dynasty. Heinrich Dumoulin saw Chan ink painting as a “testimony to personally gained vision and insight” and “document[s] of a spiritual tradition”. Ink painting was preferred by Chan artists of Song, who were not only impressed by its technical quality but also felt an inner affinity with the form of artistic expression.141

140 141

Tao Gu, Record of Tea (Mingchuan Lu), in Ruan, 52.

Dumoulin, 277 - 278.

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Figure 19

One example is the Slumbering Budai attributed to a Chinese Chan monk painter Muqi Fachang (figure 19). Budai is a Chinese Buddhist master who was considered as the incarnation of Maitreya. He is only visible to the faithful according to Buddhist belief.142 In this painting, Budai is laying his head on his left harm, and leaning against his bag; he is closing his eyes and mouth and sleeping. He looks relaxed and serene. He was delicately executed using an extremely pale ink. Just like the illusions on the tea foam, he is about to disappear into the big blank space above him. Did he 142

Yoshiaki Shimizu, ‘Zen Art?’, in Brinker, 92.

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really exist in the painting? Or just as an illusion from the viewer's mind?

The bamboo stick which was painted in a darker and dryer ink seems to remind us of his appearance. This kind of light, pale ink painting is called Wangliang Hua or “Apparition or Ghost Painting� first mentioned by Southern Song Chan believer and Confucian poet Lu You (1125 - 1210).143

A similar style can also be found in Zhi Weng's paintings (figure 20 and plate 11).

143

Ibid., 91.

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Figure 20

Similar to Figure 19, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng carrying a robe across his shoulder (Figure 20) also was depicted in extremely pale ink, especially in the lower part of the drapery and the foot. The dark ink was mainly used in the cap over the Sixth Patriarch's head which strongly contrasts with his 79

looming face. Not only the “Apparition Painting” techniques and the subject matter represents the idea of Chan, but also the poem that was inscribed by the monk Yanqi Guangwen (1193 – 1263):

“Carrying a load on both his shoulders, Before his eyes lies the same homeward road, His heart knows it must be unattached, 144 Unconcerned where his firewood may fall.”

The inscription refers to the story of when the Sixth Patriarch heard the chanting of the Diamond Sutra and suddenly understood “emptiness”, the essential concept of Buddhism, that reality is intangible and unrecognisable.145

Liang Kai's The Sixth Patriarch Chopping Bamboo (figure 20) and Immortal in Splashed Ink (figure 21) are classified as Jianbi Hua or “abbreviated brush paintings” by art historians, quite similar to “Apparition Painting”, they also reflected the ideas of Chan.

144 145

Ibid., 91 – 92.

Ibid.

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Figure 21

81

Figure 22

Different from the refined brushwork of Liang Kai's Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain (plate 13), the monochrome ink and the abbreviated brushwork as well as the subject matters of the Sixth Patriarch cutting bamboo and the immortal wearing a shabby robe reflected Chan's idea of seeking harmony through a simple live. Liang Kai used to be a court painter in Southern Song; after he left court, he took to a life of drinking and painting.146 The untrammelled brushworks and big washes that are used in Immortal in Splashed Ink expressed Liang Kai's 146 Natioanl Palace Museum of Taipei, 'Immortal in Splashed Ink', National Palace Museum Collection, National Palace Museum of Taipei, http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/Article.aspx?sNo=04000969, (accessed 22nd August 2013).

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unrestrained characters. The boneless style and the high contrast of the pale ink and dark ink depicted an inebriated immortal walking with no worries – no attachments. The subject matter of Figure 20 was inspired by the Chan biographical literature.147 Chan believed that every phenomenon and action of life no matter how large or small, is equally important and has purport.148 The mundane are as significant as the spiritual. Chan believed that an enlightened state could be achieved during one’s daily life through performing the most mundane tasks like cutting bamboo, serving and drinking tea.149

Wilson indicated in Tang and Song Chan monasteries, the ritualised serving of tea had become one of the most important social events.150 A “Tea Hall” is a room used to serve tea to the guests and to discuss Chan inside the monastery. A “Tea Drum” is used to call monks to come to drink tea. In addition, the “Tea Head” is a title for the monk who is responsible for preparing the tea.151 The Purity Rules for the Chan Monastery, which was complied by a Chan monk Zong Ze of Northern Song in 1103, was a detailed recording of the rules of ritualised serving and drinking of tea in Chan monasteries.152 According to the book, the rules were very complex

147 148 149 150 151 152

Shimizu, 87.

Wilson, xxvii.

Okakuru, 70.

Wilson, xxix.

Wu Jingyi, 262 – 263.

William Scott Wilson, The One Taste of Truth: Zen and the Art of Drinking Tea (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2012, xxix), 174.

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and strict. For example, in the chapter “Attending the Tea Ceremony”, Zong Ze indicated the rules that guest should obey when attending: The tea ceremony in the monastery is very important, the guest cannot be late. Once he has been invited, he should know which place should go first and which to go next. One should listen to the sound of the drum and be in the tea hall a bit earlier. The guest should remember his seat place, should not sit on the wrong seat. If going to the “Tangtou” tea ceremony, lots of people are together; after the attendant has extended greetings to the guest, the guest should follow the master and stand beside his seat. After greeting the host, he can sit quietly. When taking off the shoes, the shoes should be put in order. When the guest moves his feet, one cannot make noise with the chair. When seated, the guest should sit straight, and cannot lay on the backrest of the chair. The guest should use a robe to cover his knee, and keep the legs straight. Cross the two hands, and send respect to the host. The wrist should be hidden in the robe.

If the weather is hot, hands can be placed outside of the rob, if cold, hands can be placed inside. The right thumb should press the left sleeve, the second finger of the left hand should press the right sleeve. The attendant should send his respect and burn incense; the guest should show respect. The guest should quietly accept the tea bowl, use two hands to hold it in front of the chest, neither too high nor too low. If he can hold the tea bowl as the same height as the others in the room, that would be the best. The guest should show his respect to the host by looking at him, then in the same way show respect to the people next to him. When drinking tea, the guest cannot blow on the tea, cannot drop the tea bowl, and cannot make any noise. When one has finished drinking tea, the tea bowl should be put down quietly. Whoever is the first to put down the tea bowl, would be the first to be given the plate. Use the left hand to accept the herbal medicine, and one cannot take it before showing respect to all the people in the room. One cannot open the mouth and throw the herbal medicine in, cannot chew and make any noise. When the ceremony is finished, one should stand up quietly and show respect and following the others walk out. The guest should go to the host and give his appreciation for the tea. Everybody should exit in an orderly manner, not walking too fast, and the shoes cannot make any noise. If the host walks together with the guests, the guests should turn towards the host and show respect and walk out respectfully...153

It was not just a matter of bringing individual bowls of powdered tea into the room, placing them before the seated guests, supplying hot water from

153

Zong Ze, Chanyuan Qinggui (Purity Rules for the Chan Monastery), Xie Quantang et. al., eds., (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou Guji Press, 2001), 13 – 14.

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a ewer, and whisking the tea: there were more complex rules regarding the serving of tea.154 The time of serving, the preparation of the ceremony, the arrangement of the seats should all follow the exact rules. Zong Ze suggested that different rules would be applied based on the purpose of the tea ceremony. For instance, in different ceremony, the number of times tea is served were different. In addition, in different kinds of tea ceremony, different hands should be used for burning the incense before serving of tea. In addition, the speech of the host and attendees were set, with different words and sentences used under different circumstances.155 The Japanese tea rituals were believed to have been derived from these complex and structured rules of the tea ceremony in Chinese Chan monasteries.

Tea was first introduced to Japan in about the 7th century together with Buddhism. Many Japanese priests were sent to China to study Buddhism in the 9th century.156 A Japanese monk Eichū (743 – 816) was one of them.

After thirty years of studying, Eichū came back to Japan with Chinese tea.

The beginning of the Japanese Tea tradition was considered by the event of Eichū serving tea to Emperor Saga (785 – 842) in 815 at the Temples Sōfuku-ji in Kyoto and Bonhaku-ji in Ōmi. After that the Emperor ordered tea to be grown in several provinces to be used as tribute to the court and

154 155 156

Jennifer L.Anderson, An Introduction to Japanese Tea Ritual (New York: State University of New York, 1991), 21.

Ibid., 59 – 72.

Sōshitsu Sen, Chado: The Japanese Way of Tea, in Masuo Yamaguchi, et. al. trans. (New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill, Inc., 1979), 5.

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also founded a government tea farm in Kyoto.157 The types of tea that were mainly consumed at this period were brick tea and later steeped tea at Buddhist temples, and religious and seasonal ceremonies at the imperial court. Tea played a significant role in the banquets held at the end of royal ceremonies. A new tea drinking practice which involved poetry recitations and music being played on the qin in an designated room was imported from Tang China in the early Heian period (794 – 1185).158

With the great rise in the popularity of tea drinking, whisked tea was introduced from Southern Song China to Japan during the Kamakura period (1185 – 1333).159 Different from the white tea cake that was popular among Song scholars and elites, the whisked tea that was introduced to Japan was a type of green grass tea that was usually cultivated near Chan monasteries in Zhejiang in Song China.160 The Japanese monk Eisai (1141 – 1215) travelled to Southern Song China twice and came back with the new Buddhist philosophy of the Renzai School of Chan to Japan.161 Eisai was traditionally credited also for the introduction of whisked tea, associated Chinese utensils including Jian ware tea bowls and tea seeds as 157

158

159 160 161

Jennifer L. Anderson, 23.

Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2012), 79.

Rousmaniere, 'Defining Temmoku: Jian Ware Tea Bowls Imported into Japan', in Robert D. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400 – 1400, Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, 44.

Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan , 79.

Liao, 62.

Jennifer L. Anderson, 24.

According to Dumoulin, the origin of Renzai school is Hose of Linji in Song China. Dumoulin, 244.

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well as tea rituals. However, Rousmaniere has argued that the introduction of both steeped tea and whisked tea was actually before Eisai's trip to China.162 Rousmaniere further indicated that Jian ware bowls which were excavated from the port city of Hakata were dated from 11th century onwards which was even before Eisai was born.163 Nevertheless, Eisai was still believed to have helped with the popularity of drinking whisked tea.

Mowry believed that the beginning of widespread tea consumption in Japan can be marked by the cultivation of the tea seeds at Togano-o in the mountains north of Kyoto by Myōe Shōnin (1173 – 1232). Myōe's tea seeds were originally planted by Eisai.164

In addition, the Kissa Yōjōki, which was written by Eisai, was suggested to have been the first treatise on tea in Japan which reviewed both the physical and spiritual benefits of tea.165 In terms of preparation of tea, he suggested: The tea leaves picked in the morning should be steamed immediately. They should be dried during the day and roasted carefully overnight. In order to store the tea for many years, they should be placed in a good quality jar and covered carefully with bamboo leaves.

Concerning the tea drinking, he believed: Only very hot and clear water can be used for making tea. The 162 163 164 165

According to Rousmaniere, the stepped tea was introduced to Japan during the second half of the 11th century, and whisked tea was reached Japan during the first half of 12 th century.

Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan , 80.

Mowry, 44.

Jennifer L. Anderson, 24.

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amount used should depend on the taste. Usually for the spoon as large as one mon coin, needs two or three full spoon of tea powder.166

The offering of tea to Buddha he mentioned in the book laid the foundation for the development of the tea ritual. Through gaining the support from the samurai class, the tea ritual and drinking of whisked tea must have become popular along with the flourishing of Chan Buddhism. As a student of Eisai and the first Japanese patriarch of Sōtō Chan, Dōgen (1200 – 1253) in his Eihei Shingi included the regulations for the tea ritual.167 Similar to the Song scholar Chen Zhirou's idea of “tea and Chan have the same taste”, another highly respected Japanese Chan priest Musō Soseki (1275 – 1351) also promoted the idea that “Tea and Chan are One” which was known in Japanese as Cha Zen ichimi. He suggested: From Chan's point of view, everything in daily life, no matter be it singing songs, reading poems or drinking tea, is a way of seeking enlightenment, and is the only way to reach Boddhahood. 168

Derived from the practices in Song monasteries, Obukucha was the main Chan Buddhist tea ritual during the Kamakurua period Japan. Similarly, it involved offering tea to Buddha, and then worshippers drank the tea. This ritual was transformed into the ochamori ritual which was first held at Saidai-ji Temple in Nara in the mid-thirteenth century – which included the

166

167 168

Murai Yasuhiko, “The Development of Chanoyu: Before Rikyū”, Paul Varley trans., Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu, eds. by Paul Varley & Kumakura Isao, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1989, 8 -9.

Eihei Shingi: is the Eihei temple rules for daily life.

Jennifer L. Anderson, 25 - 27.

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drinking of tea by monks and the laity on the last day of the Buddhist ceremonies at the Chinju Hachimangu Shrine. A tea bowl of forty centimetres in diameter was used for the ritual.169

In contrast to the decorous tea ritual in the monasteries, tōcha as a tea contest was becoming popular among the samurai class at the end of the Kamakura period. Different from the Song tea contest of competing tea quality and preparation skills, the purpose of the Japanese tōcha was to identify the types of tea involved and the area of its production.170 During the contest, guests would sit in lines and different kinds of powdered tea would be served in the temmoku tea bowls (figure 8).171

Although there are many other facts like the popularity of Jian ware tea bowls in Song dynasty China, the frequent communication between monks in Japan and China, and the development of international trade, there is no doubt that it is the transfer of the culture practices from China to Japan, such as the practices of Chan Buddhism and tea ritual, that dramatically helped with the transfer of objects and images. For example Jian ware tea bowls became highly prized in 13th - 14th century Japan. Figure 23 shows two Chinese Jian ware tea bowls from Southern Song China on Japanese

169 170 171

Mowry, 45.

Yasuhiko, 11.

Temmoku tea bowl: usually indicates the Chinese and Japanese dark glazed ware tea bowls, especially tea bowl from Jian kiln. Clear definition please see Mowry, 54 – 55.

Jennifer L. Anderson, 26.

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carved Negoro (15th - 16th century) lacquer stands resting on a Japanese Negoro lacquer tray.

Figure 23

Japanese elites in the Kamakura period already had the knowledge of categorising Chinese dark-glazed ceramics, and the ability of distinguish products from different kiln sites. The earliest Japanese document that mentioned Chinese dark-glazed tea bowls is a letter written by Kanazawa Teiken (1278 – 1333), a vassal of the ruling HĹ?jĹ? family, to his son Sadamasa in Kyoto. In the letter, Teiken told his son to purchase more Chinese ceramics while in Kyoto because of the popularity of Chinese tea vessels in Kamakura. Teiken then used the term kesan (Jian ware) to describe a tea bowl in a separate letter to the priest Ken'a (active late 13th 14th century). Rousmaniere believed that in the politically charged atmosphere of the Kamakura period, knowledge about and possession of these Chinese wares could be an advantage.172

172

Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence: China and The Birth of Porcelain in Medieval and Early Modern Japan, 93.

90

However, not until the 15th century, were the Chinese black-glazed wares given ranks and recorded in the written document. They were ranked in descending order: yōhen (a reference to Jian bowls with colour-changeable effect, see plate 14), yuteki (also known as “oil spot” effect, Jian bowls with silvery splashes, see figure 24), and kensan (standard Jian bowl with hare'sfur effect, see plate 9). Then usan temmoku which referred to the other “black-glazed ware”, including Jian, Jizhou ro Cizhou-type ware).

Followed by haikastugi temmoku (Jian ware with a gray, ash-coloured glaze) and taihi temmoku (a type of Jizhou ware tea bowl with “tortoiseshell ware” effect, see figure 25).

Figure 24 91

Figure 25 Figure 26 simulated the display of the tea vessels in a Japanese tea room. A Southern Song hare's fur Jian ware tea bowl was quietly sitting on the Ming red carved lacquer tea bowl stand which was put on a Chinese style display shelf, together with other Japanese tea utensils under the shelf. A Chinese landscape painting is hanging behind the shelf.173

173

Liao, 62.

92

Figure 26

Chinese ink painting is the other example that was introduced to Japan along with the spread of Chan Buddhism, and was also highly esteemed as part of the Japanese tea ritual. According to Sōshitsu Se, in the tea room, a picture of Sākaymuni would be hung together with a Chinese hanging scroll.174 Liang Kai's Sākaymuni Descending the Mountain (plate 13) and Sixth Patriarch Chopping Bamboo (figure 21), Zhiweng's The Sixth Patriarch carrying a robe across his shoulder (figure 20) and Muqi Fachang's White Robbed Guanyin (Figure 27) were brought to Japan, and

174

Sen, 5.

93

probably were hung during the tea ritual for guests to appreciate when they were drinking their tea. And now, some of them have became national treasures in Japan. These treasures from Song China also inspired Japanese Chan artists.

The Sixth Patriarch of Chan at the Moment of Enlightenment (figure 28) was painted by a 17th century Japanese Chan painter Tan'yū.175 The artist was clearly inspired by Liang Kai's The Sixth Patriarch Chopping Bamboo (figure 21). He not only executed it with the same subject matter, but also with the same style of brush work - “abbreviated brush”. A similar style, using broad ink washes on cloth can also be found in another of Liang Kai's paintings, Immortal in Splashed Ink (figure 22). In addition, the idea of using the light ink for the Sixth Patriarch's head, arm and foot to create an effect of disappearance of the body can also be found in Muqi and Zhiweng's “Apparition paintings” (see figure 19 and 20).

Similar Chinese inspirations also appeared in Moku'an Rei'en (active through ca. 1345)'s Hotei (figure 29), Sōtatsu (active ca. 1600 – 1638)'s Chōka (figure 30), and Isshi (1608 – 1646)'s Sākyamuni Returning form the Mountains (Shussan Shaka) (figure 31).

175

The Sixth Patriarch of Chan at the moment of Enlightenment, Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-thecollections/73193?rpp=20&pg=1&ft=The+Sixth+Patriarch+of+Zen+at+the+Moment+of+Enli ghtenment&pos=1, (accessed 22nd August 2013).

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Figure 27

95

Figure 28

96

Figure 29

97

Figure 30

98

Figure 31

99

Conclusion In the Song dynasty, the combination of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism had a great impact on art and social life. The drinking of whisked tea was raised to a high literati level by Cai Xiang and his Record on Tea. The Confucianideas of being a morally committed scholar, learning from the ancient masters and seeking natural harmony had spread through the whole of Song society through the drinking of tea. These ideas were also reflected in Song material arts which included ceramics, lacquer wares, metal wares, calligraphy and paintings. As a part of his culture projects, Huizong propagated the drinking of tea to compete for cultural leadership with scholars and created a public image of a flourishing, harmonious dynasty in order to consolidate his rulership. Because of the flourishing of Chan Buddhism in the Song dynasty, the Chan idea of understanding natural harmony and universal truth became associated with tea drinking. The complex rules of the tea ritual were developed in the monasteries. Chan was introduced to Japan during the Southern Song period; the tea ceremony continued its development in Japan. Chinese ink painting, as another media that carries Chan ideas, had significant influence on Japanese paintings.

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Catalogue

101

Tea for Scholar: Plate 1:

102

CAI XIANG (1012 – 1067) Letter to Feng Jing Album leaf, W. 11 3/4 in. (29.7 cm); L.15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm).

Dated Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127) Seven collectors' seals.

Letter text:

襄得足下書，極思詠之懷。在杭留两月，今方得出關 。禮賞劇醉，不可勝計，亦一春之盛事也。知官下與郡 侯情意相通，此固可樂。唐候言：王白今歲為閨所盛， 大可怪也，初夏時景清和，願郡侯自壽為佳。襄頓首。 通理當世屯田足下。大餅極珍物，淸甌微粗。臨行匆匆 致意，不周悉。

Translation:

I have received your letter; I am missing you very much. I have stayed in Hangzhou for two months, and now I am about to leave. We appreciate each other and used to get together to drink, lots of times, those were also considered as big events this spring. I know that we share the same interests, so I am always happy. You used to say: recently you don't feel very well, that is not normal, it is spring and everything is slowly getting cold, you should take care of yourself. I appreciate that, and left some presents for you.

The “Big Dragon Tea Cake” is very precious, and the celadon tea bowl is slightly crude.176 National Palace Museums of Taipei

Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

176

Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea

Translated by Guan Lu.

103

This letter was written by Cai Xiang in his running script in 1051 to his friend Feng Jing when he was about to leave Hangzhou. There is clearly the inspiration of Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing in this work. Similar control and strength of the vertical lines and the rhythm of brush movement can seen in Wang Xizhi's Sangluan Tie (figure 1). In addition, compare to Yan Zhenqing's Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew (figure 3), the modulation and speed of brush strokes were very similar. Especially the character “之”, they were almost executed in the same way. (see plate 1a and plate 1b)

Plate 1a, Cai Xiang, detail of Letter to Feng Jing. Plate 1b, Yan Zhenqing, detail of Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew

In the letter he stated that he is going to send a “Big Dragon Tea Cake” and a Yue ware celadon tea bowl as gifts along with the letter. Although “Little Dragon Tea Cake” had been invented, the “Big Dragon Tea Cake” was still considered precious and hard to get. However, although Yue ware tea bowls were still in use, they were becoming less popular.177

177

Liao, Empty Vessel Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice, and Art of Tea, 31.

104

Plate 2:

105

SU SHI (1037 – 1101) Letter to Ji Chang Album leaf, ink and colour on silk W. 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm); L. 10 7/8 in. (27.6 cm).

Dated Northern Song dynasty (960 – 1127) Seven Collectors' seals

Letter text:

一夜尋黃居寀龍不獲，方悟半月前是曹光州借去摹榻。 更須一兩月方取得。恐王君疑是翻悔，且告子細說與。 纔取得，即納去也。欲寄團茶一餅與之，旌其好事也。 軾白。季常。廿三日。

Translation: One night I wanted to find The Painted Dragon by Huang Jucai, I suddenly realised that the book has been lent to Cao Guangzhou to study and copy half a month ago. It would take him one or two months to return it to me. I am afraid that Wang Jun would worry that I would break my promise, please tell him the situation. Once I get the book, I will give it back to him immediately. I am going to send you a cake of tea; I know you would like it. Written by Shi. Ji Chang.

Twenty-third.178 National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance:

Collection of National Palace Museum

Exhibition:

Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea

Su Shi was born in Si Chuan in 1037.179 He was considered as one of the four greatest calligraphers of Song and was believed one of the most talented artists and scholar of Chinese history. Although like most other 178 Translated by Guan Lu. 179 Wang Borhua, Su Shi's Art of Writing and His Hanshi Tie (Michigan: A Bell & Howell Company, 1997), 16.

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Song calligraphers, Su learnt calligraphy from Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and Yan Zhenqin, he created his own style of writing and his theory of emphasising the expression of personal content in calligraphy was called “literati calligraphy”.180 He believed that the spirit was much more important than the form. He used to say that:

“Although my calligraphy is not good, but having my own ideas, not strictly following the ancient masters, it is joyful.”

“Even used pans piled up into a hill, one does not need to feel pity; after reading thousands of books, the spirit would appear.”

“I follow no rules when I am writing; the strokes only come from my feeling.”

“The methods of practising calligraphy, if one lacks experience, have narrowness of mind or lack of knowledge: one cannot be a good calligrapher.”181

This letter was written in running script, Cai Xiang's influence on the arrangement of characters and the combination of thick and thin brush 180 181

Ibid., 136.

National Palace Museum of Taipei, 'Su Shi's Letter to Ji Chang', National Palace Museum of Taipei, http://www.npm.gov.tw/dm/album/selection/02/k2b000238n000000003fd.htm (accessed 25th August).

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stocks are obvious (see figure 2). However, compare to Cai Xiang, Su Shi's work seems to exhibit more control on the brush stocks of the downwardsleft and downwards-right. The thick and heavy ink that is used by Su Shi was inspired by Yan Zhenqing, and expressed his respect to the upright Confucian scholar.

Su Shi wrote this letter to his friend Ji Chang (1101 - 1-36) when he was in Huangzhou. He wanted Ji Chang to do him a favour to tell Wang Jun he will return the book to Wang once Cao Guangzhou gave back to him. In return for this favour, Su send Ji Chang a tea cake. In Su Shi's time, there were already many kinds of caked tea, apart from Big and Little Dragon Tea Cake; there are “Phoenix Tea Cake” and “Miyun Dragon Tea Cake”.

And the “Miyun Dragon Tea Cake” was considered the best. Su was awarded several “Little Dragon Tea Cakes” by the Emperor; the tea cake he was going to send to Ji Chang might be one of them.182 In one of Su's poem he mentioned he treated them as precious Jades.183

182

Liao, Empty Vessel Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice, and Art of Tea, 32.

183

Liao, Cha Yu Ming Shi: Gu Gong Cha Hua (Everything of Tea: Tea in National Palace Museum), 169.

108

Plate 3:

109

LI GONGLIN (1049 – 1106) Mountain Villa (Detail) Handscroll, ink on paper, W. 11 3/8 in. (28.9 cm); L. 143 1/2 in. (364.6 cm).

The tenth year of Xining (1077) National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea

Literature:

Robert E. Harrist, Painting and private life in eleventhcentury China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998

This painting follows the “Wang Chuan Villa” painting tradition of the T'ang dynasty, with each side bearing meticulously designed scenery and human activities. The specially selected decorative rocks and trees are also rendered with a kind of awkward simplicity and archaic atmosphere. This complex rendering of the simple life of reclusion further testifies to the 110

ideals and yearning for seclusion in the heart the artist here.184

Although Li Gonglin (1049 – 1106) is Su Shi's friend and a member of his literati circle, his proficient technical skills in painting made him the master of figure painter and narrative illustrator of the Song period. The Xuanhe Painting Catalogue which was compiled under Huizong's command identified him as a great figure painter: He was great at figure painting and could differentiate appearances. Any viewer could identify the figures whether they were imperial courtiers, scholars, recluses, common people, rustic farmers, slaves, litter bearers, or runners.185

As a scholar, Li Gonglin shared the same literati ideas as Sushi, that is painting and poetry have a common origin.186 He also believed that artists should express their own emotions just like a poet writing poetry.

According to the Xuanhe Painting Catalogue, Li Gonglin used to say that, “I paint as a poet composes verses – singing out my feelings and nothing more.”187 The combinations of excellent painterly skills and literati expressions, made his paintings accomplished and unique.

Natioanl Palace Museum of Taipei, 'Grand View: Painting and Calligraphy from the Northern Song Dynasty', National Palace Museum of Taipei, http://tech2.npm.gov.tw/sung/flash/index_en.asp?ID=t2_1_b17, (accessed 2nd September 2013).

185 Julia K. Murray, 'Representation and Literati Values: Li Gonglin and Narrative Illustration', eds.

Wang Yaoting, Conference on Founding Paradigms: Papers on the Art and Culture of the Northern Song Dynasty (Taipei: National Palace Museum Press, 2008), 562 – 564.

186 Ibid., 560.

187 Robert E. Harrist, Painting and private life in eleventh-century China: Mountain Villa by Li Gonglin (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998), 6.

184

111

This painting depicted Li Gonglin and his friends and monks appreciating the beauty of the natural scenery, reading books, discussing Buddhism, doing painting and calligraphy and drinking tea in his garden in the Longmian Mountains. The landscape of the garden is meticulously designed with natural rocks, cliffs, waterfalls and streams. By just placing a few tables and pavilions, and figures sitting on the rocks or inside the caves, the traditional style and simplicity of the garden setting reflects the Song Confucian idea of naturalism.

Tea drinking appeared in two sections of this painting: one is in the Lingling valley, a scholar is sitting on the rock besides the river, his attendant is serving him a cup of tea by holding a cup stand with a white tea bowl on top. On the other site of the river, there is another attendant who is boiling the water with an ewer on top of a portable square stove.

The other section that depicted tea drinking is in the Jade Dragon George: similar to the previous tea drinking scene, a monk is also sitting on top of a rock besides a river, a scholar is serving him a cup of tea and his servant, holding a big plate with three cups of tea on top of cup stands, is crossing the river. On the other side of the river, there is another servant boiling the water.

The tea drinking scenes were conducted near the river and under the 112

waterfall: the water that is used for serving the tea might just have come from the river, which implied a shared idea of enjoying natural beauty and drinking a cup of tea.

113

Plate 4:

114

JIZHOU WARE TEA BOWL WITH LEAF PATTERN DECORATION ON A BLACK GROUND Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 1279).

H. 2 1/8 in. (5.2 cm.); MD. 6 in. (15.2 cm.); BD. 1 1/4 in.

(3.4 cm).

National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty

With V-shaped conical sides, triangular in section, this tea bowl has thin, straight walls that rise from the short, circular foot to a rounded rim; covered with a black glazed inside and outside; a thinner glaze with greyish tone at the lip falling to just above the flat-bottomed foot ring; a thick, amber coloured leaf mark embellishes the bowl off-centre of the interior.

Tea drinking as the reflection of Confucian ideas of pursing the natural order and inner harmony was much appreciated by Song scholars. After the publication of Cai Xiang's Record on Tea, the black-glazed Jian ware tea bowl became very popular across the whole state. Under the influence of Jian ware, potters in the northern kilns started to imitate the black-glazed tea bowl. Because of the collapse of the Northern Song, potters escaped to the Southern Song and transmitted northern styles and techniques to Southern kilns like Jizhou. Due to the strong influences of Cizhou kilns, the Jizhou kilns might be considered a southern extension of a Cizhou type 115

system. Although kilns were active in the Northern Song period, the new designs and techniques such as the tortoiseshell glazes, papercut, glazeresist and naturalistic leaf designs were starting to appear during the Southern Song period. According to Mowry, the connoisseurs of tea in the Southern Song period would not only use Jian bowls, they would used a wide variety of bowls for their tea, which included those made at the Jizhou kilns. The tea bowls with leaf decorations were believed to be the most celebrated products of Jizhou kilns. The leaf decoration may recall the tea leaves and reflects the naturalism of Confucian aesthetic ideas.188

In order to create this effect, the leaf would be stuck to the pale-white body before the dark glaze was applied. In the heat of the kiln, the natural chemicals of the leaf would react with the glaze, fading away its black colour and rendering it transparent.189 There is a similar conical Jizhou tea bowl in The Art Institute of Chicago (figure 34). However, in contrast with this one, that one was decorated with three leaves at the centre of the interior with tortoiseshell glaze.

188 189

Mowry, 226 – 240 & 260 – 262.

Ibid.

116

Figure 34

117

Plate 5:

118

A QIN, CHINESE ZITHER, WITH INSCRIPTION ATTRIBUTED TO WANG HUIZHI Song to Ming dynasty (10th – 17th century).

H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm); W.(on shoulder) 7 1/2 in. (18.9 cm); W. (on tail) 5 1/4 in. (13.2 cm); L. 46 7/8 in. (119.3 cm).

National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty

This “Zhongni” style qin with rectangular “dragon pool” and “phoenix pond” is covered in a black lacquer with the ice-cracks at the front and rope line cracks at the back; the harmonic markers are inlaid with gold and the tuning pegs and feet are inlaid with jade; two marks are carved as “Jingsheng pingyua nian zhiin” and “Langya Wang Huizhi zhuo” seal script inside the “dragon pool”.

As the fifth son of Wang Xizhi (321 - 379) and the older brother of Wang Xianzhi (344 – 386), Wang Huizhi (344 – 386) was also a famous calligraphy. He was also every good at playing the qin. He got sick at the same time with his brother Xianzhi, during Xianzhi's funeral; he played Xianzhi's qin out of tune for a long time, and died a few days later.190

190

Lin Boting, des., China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: At and Culture of the Song Dynasty, 960 – 1279 (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2000), 448.

119

In Chinese traditional culture, qin playing always relates to the high spiritual and intellectual level. People in Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) believed that plying qin can help with understanding morality, cultivating character, enhancing life, expanding the mind and supplicate gods and demons.191 As mentioned in the essay, in the Song dynasty, qin playing was always associated with tea drinking and incense burning. Zhao Xihu (active c.1231) indicated that burning light smelling and less smoky incense is better when playing qin. In addition, because of the idea of archaism, Song scholars took studying the qin seriously, including how to identify the real ancient qin according to its cracks; how to hang the qin when one has stopped playing. Furthermore, they believed that the wood from phoenix tree with straight lined grains was good for making qin.192 In the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), scholars further suggested that qin should be played outdoors in a mountain setting, a garden, or a small pavilion or near an old pine tree while burning incense perfumed the air.193 These qin playing scenes were also depicted in the hanging scroll Listening to the Zither that is attributed to Song Huizong (figure 14).

191

192 193

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'The Qin', Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mqin/hd_mqin.htm#thumbnails (accessed 25/08/2013).

Lin Boting, 448.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mqin/hd_mqin.htm#thumbnails (accessed 25th August 2013).

120

Plate 6:

121

A LONGQUAN CELADON TRIPOD INCENSE BURNER Southern Song Dynasty (1127 – 1279) H. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm) high; DM. 5 1/4 in. (13.5 cm).

National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty

The compressed globular body rising to a straight neck and an everted rim resting on three splayed legs each with moulded vertical flange; pale white body covered inside and out with light bluish-green glaze falling to three reddish coloured unglazed feet.

Longquan ware was made in Zhejiang, the same province as famous celadon high-fired stoneware - Yue ware. Different from the northern Zhejiang of Yue kilns, Longquan kilns are located in the southern part of this province. Longquan kilns were active from the Northern Song period; after the production at the Yue kilns declined in the mid-eleventh century, the production of Longquan kilns increased dramatically. In the early Northern Song period the glaze of Longquan wares was pale in colour; by the eleventh-twelfth century the glaze colour turned towards having an 122

olive tone. Longquan kilns were developed rapidly at the end of the Northern Song dynasty; the production reached its peak during the Southern Song to Yuan period. Most of the fine Southern Song longquan ware has a very thin greyish-white to dark clay body, and thick, multiplelayered glaze. The light blueish green and olive green are the two main colours of the Longquan glaze. The reason that the body could be fired so thinly is because of the use of the combination of white porcelain stone and darker, iron-rich zijin clay. In addition, the use of porcelain stone in glazes lowered the titanium contents and the level of iron oxide, and increased the level of potassium oxide which led to the bluer tone and jade-liked texture of the glaze.194

The elegant form of this incense burner was copied from the bronze vessel li, which reflects the Song Confucian idea of archaism. The archaism movement was first promoted by Ouyang Xiu (1007 – 1072) and his followers, the movement included collecting old colophons, studying ancient bronzes, learning calligraphy and article writing from ancient masters. During the Huizong's period (1101 – 1125), Huizong issued a number of decrees attempting to recover antiquity and honouring the Rites of Zhou, which included casting the nine tripods and refashioning court music to recover Zhou rituals. Along with the collapse of Northern Song, lots of ritual bronze vessels were damaged or lost, there was a process of 194

Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics (London: V&A Publications, 2004), 87 – 95.

123

encouraging ceramic vessels to be made as replacements for the bronze ones. Longquan wares were made after the ancient bronze vessels became a fashion. As mentioned in the essay, incense burning, painting appreciating, qin playing and flower arranging were closely associated with tea drinking by Song scholars.

A similar Southern Song Longquan incense burner can be found in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum of a slightly smaller size and with a shorter neck (figure 33).195

Figure 33

195

Ibid., 93.

124

Imperial Tea Plate 7:

125

ATTRIBUTED TO SONG HUIZONG (1082 – 1135) Literary Gathering Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, Northern Song (1101 - 1125) W. 72 5/8 in. (184.4cm); L. 48 3/4 in. (123.9 cm).

Signed: Tianxia yiren Identified collectors' seals: Huai Ting Qing Wan, Aerxipu Zhi Yin, Yu Ci Zhongxiao Tang Changbaishan Suoshi Zhencang, Qin Shu Tang, Duwei Gengxingong Shuhua Zhi Zhang, Zhen Mi, Er Shun, Dan Cheng, Jiaqing Yulan Zhi Bao, Xuantong Jianshang, Wu Yi Zhai Jing Jian, Xuantong Yulan Zhi Bao, Qianlong Yulan Zhi Bao, Shiqu Ding Jian, Baoji Chong Bian, Yangxin Dian Jianchang Bao, Zhen Shang, Zui Li Xiang Shi Jiabao Wan, Xiangmolin Jianshang Zhang Inscription texts: 題文會圖：儒林華國古今同，吟詠飛毫醒醉中。多士 作新知入彀，畫圖猶喜見文雄。 臣京謹依韻和進：明時不與有唐同，八表人歸大道中 。可笑當年十八士，經論誰是出群雄。 Translation:

Literary Gathering: Confucian scholars of our nation have been the same from the ancient period – chanting singing, flying brushes when drunk and awake. Many scholars and their new works are all coming to me; I am happy to see the literati heroes in this painting.

Official Jing composes this according to the same rhyme: Song and Tang are different periods; scholars from all places come to the dao. I am laughing at the eighteen scholars [of Tang], who would be the best at studying classics and assisting in politics.196 National Palace Museum of Taipei

196

Translated by Guan Lu.

126

Provenance:

Collection of National Palace Museum

Literature:

Yi Ruofen, Heaven's Blessing for a Thousand Years: Huizong's Literary Gathering and its Poetic Inscriptions, eds. Wang Yaoting, Conference on Founding Paradigms: Papers on the Art and Culture of the Northern Song Dynasty, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2008, 347 369.

This painting depicts several scholars sitting around a big table under two huge trees in a garden scene; attendants are preparing whisked tea for the guests. According to Chinese traditional rules of hospitality, in which guests sit on the west and the host sits on the east, the person in the white cloth sitting on the centre of the left side of the table is believed to be the host of this party or Huizong himself; he is raising his right hand and asking his guests to have some tea.197 The zither under the tree creates a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere for the gathering.

This literati gathering theme was believed to be based on a story of the Tang period. When Tang Taizong Li Shimin (599 – 649) was still a prince, he recruited eighteen literati scholars to be his advisors; these eighteen scholars helped him succeeded to the throne and created a flowering dynasty.198 In this painting, Huizong is comparing himself with Tang Taizong, and comparing his period to the flourished period of Tang. He believed that because of the cultural polices he implemented, for example, 197 198

Yi Ruofen, 356.

Ibid., 348 – 349.

127

the expanding of education systems, all the literati served at his throne and helped him created a prosperous dynasty just like Tang Taizong and his eighteen literati. This self-satisfied feeling can be seen from Huizong's inscription. In addition, Huizong was depicted as one of the literati and the host of this literati gathering, which implied his leadership of the literati and culture. However, Cai Jing's inscription even shows more selfsatisfaction than Huizong; he suggest Song is better than the Tang period; he is laughing at the eighteen Scholars of Tang, and thinks that none of them can compare to himself, because it is him who helped Huizong develop all the cultural projects.199

Similar to most of other paintings that are attributed to Huizong, this painting is also full of auspicious elements. For example the big willow tree above the table represents beautiful things; the bamboo implied the flexibility of gentlemen and the wish to reach a higher standard for the country. In addition, the buckeye tree and vine grow together, in Chinese called lianli, which here implied the long and harmonious existence of the country.

The tea vessels that are depicted in this painting were typical Song style tea drinking utensils. As part of Huizong's cultural project, the tea drinking scene together with other auspicious elements, served the purpose of 199

Ibid., 358 – 365.

128

propagating a flourishing, harmonious social atmosphere under Huizong's rule.

129

Plate: 8.

130

A RU WARE FLOWER-SHAPED TEA BOWL STAND Late Northern Song dynasty (late 11th century – early 12th century) H. 2 5/8 in. (6.5 cm); D. 6 3/4 in. (17 cm).

The British Museum Provenance:

Collection of Sir Percival David Foundation

The globular bowl shaped holder is quietly sitting on the centre of the mallow flower-shaped five-petal flange with an outlining of the edges of each petal beneath the glaze, which rises from a high, flared foot; the thin and ash-grey coloured clay body is fully covered by the thick multilayered, bluish jade-like celadon glaze with ice cracks on the surface and is hollow right the way to the centre.

Much archaeological evidence indicated that the earliest use of the tea bowl stand was in the Jin dynasty (265 - 420).200 The use of a stand to hold the tea bowl remained popular throughout the Tang (618 - 907) and Song periods – evidence of which can be found in a number of Song paintings (for example plate 8 and 12). As one of the official wares in the Northern Song dynasty, Ru wares have been regarded as the highest-quality wares of the period.201 The flourished production period of Ru kilns only lasted 20 years, between the reigns of Zhezong (1086 – 1100) and Huizong (1100 – 200 201

Lo Kuei-hsiang, K.S. Lo Collection in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware (Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1984), 22.

S. J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery And Porcelain: From Prehistory To The Present (London: British Museum Press, 1991), 99.

131

1125).202 Ru wares are very rare, documents indicated that they were already very difficult to obtain in Southern Song.203 There are thought to be only 65 pieces still existing up to today.204

The design of this Ru ware tea bowl stand might be inspired by a five petal mallow flower. This naturalistic inspiration can also be found in other types of ceramics (see figure 7, 9 and 10). In addition, the flower petal design can also be discovered in tea bowl stands in other materials such as metal wares (see plate 10 and 15) and lacquer wares. Because no Ru ware tea bowl has been discovered in combination with a Ru ware bowl stand, and both Ru ware and Jian ware tea bowls were highly valued by the Song Emperors, the Ru ware bowl stand might be used to hold the Jian ware tea bowl in some circumstances.205 Like most Ru ware, this tea bowl stand was fired upright on a support with a numbers of prongs.206 The jade-liked texture was created by the application of the multi-layered, agate dust containing glaze.207 The very low level of titanium dioxide together with dissolved iron oxide during the firing led to the sky-blue colour of the glaze.208

202

203 204 205 206 207 208

He Li, 'Ceramics of the Song, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties', in Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period through the Qing Dynasty, ed. Li Zhiyan (New Haven and London: Yale University and Foreign Languages Press. 2010), 277.

Rose Kerr, 29.

Ibid., 60.

Guan Lu, Object Statues Report (London: Christie's Education, 2012), 19.

Rose Kerr, 29.

S. J. Vainker, 99.

Regina Krahl & Jessica Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection (London: British Museum Press. 2009), 27.

132

A similar Ru ware tea bowl stand can be found in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Compared to this piece, the one in the Victoria and Albert Museum has the mark “Shou Cheng Dian” inside the foot. In addition, because of some damage, that one has a metal band mounted on the flange.209

209

See Rose Kerr, 29.

‘Shou Cheng Dian’ means the Hall for the Attainment of Longevity.

133

Plate 9:

Plate 9a: The base of the Jian ware “hare's fur” tea bowl.

134

A JIAN WARE BLACK-GLAZED TEA BOWL WITH “HARE'S-FUR” EFFECT AND “LV” CHARACTER MARK AT THE BASE Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) H. 2 1/2 in. (6.5 cm); DM. 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm); DB. 1 5/8 in.

(4.2 cm).

National Palace Museum of Taipei Provenance: Collection of National Palace Museum Exhibition:

China at the Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty

The steeply sloping walls of this heavily potted bowl connected with the circular foot and lightly indented, vertical lip, covered inside and out with a lustrous black glaze with fine russet “hare's fur” streaks, thinning to browncoffee colour at the rim and pooling in a thick welt at the angle above the foot ring, the un-glazed coarse base and foot fired to a dark purplish-brown colour with a carved “lv” character at the bottom.

The Jian kilns were located in the Jianyang county, northern Fujian province. The kilns were active from the late Tang period through the Yuan (1271 – 1368). They were mainly producing celadon wares to imitate Yue kilns in Zhejiang during the Tang and Five Dynasties (907 – 960). During the Song dynasty, the Jian kilns had specially produced black-glazed

135

wares.210 The main types of the glaze effects included the “hares' fur” effect, “oil-spot” effect, “Partridge-feather” effect, and “colour-changeable” effect.211 Although there were the three basic shapes of the tea bowl that was produced in Jian kilns (conical, trumpet-mouthed and funnel-shaped), only the narrow mouthed funnel-shaped tea bowls were particularly created for tea contests and whisked tea.212

As mentioned in the essay, because of the promotion of Cai Xiang, Jian ware black-glazed tea bowls were highly esteemed among scholars and Emperors. As a scholar-Emperor and a tea connoisseur, Huizong in his book Treatise on tea agreed with Cai Xiang that the “hare's-fur” Jian ware tea bowls were most desirable and were the best for whisked tea because the dark glaze could bring out the colour of the white tea better, the widebottom was suitable for using a bamboo whisk for whipping the tea, and the thick walls could preserve the tea's heat better.213

The Jian kilns supplied tribute ware to the Emperors every year. The tea bowls with “Gongyu” or “Jinzhan” marks at the base were made for imperial use. Different from the fine calligraphy “Jinzhan” that was carved into the moist clay body with a knife, the mark “Gongyu” was always

210 211 212 213

Mowry, 205.

Nigel Wood, Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry, and Recreation, (London: A & C Black, 2007), 150.

Mowry, 205 & 214.

Ibid., 214

136

stamped into the base. The imperial use of the Jian ware tea bowls declined in the second half of the twelfth century; however, they remained popular among tea connoisseurs outside the court in the Southern Song period.

Apart from those tea bowls with imperial marks, there are also a number of Jian ware tea bowls carved with other marks such as a single character, a number, and people’s surnames and so on. Those inscriptions are believed to be potters' marks, the ownership of individual pieces, or the distribution of the wares after firing.214 The inscription of the “Lv” character of this tea bowl is very unusual; however, the form of carving using fine calligraphy is very similar to the “Gongyu” of another Jian ware tea bowl supplied as tribute, now in Harvard University Art Museum; additionally, with the well finished foot, it may be suggested that this bowl was made neither for the court nor for some other official department.

Due to the high iron contented of the thick, coarse, grey to black clay body, the colour of the clay body usually turned to purplish brown after firing.

The glaze contained mixtures of clay and ash. Before firing, the glazed was poured in and out of the body then it was poured a second time over the outside of the inverted bowl while the bowl was slowly rotated. When the glaze was dry, the bowl was fired singly on a clay separator inside its saggar. The hare's-fur glaze effect of this bowl was created during firing processes, by separating the high iron fraction in the form of droplets. The 214

Ibid., 207 – 212.

137

droplets then form a thin iron-rich layer within the molten glaze. The ironrich layer was carried to the glaze surface by bubbles, and appeared as spots within the blackish glaze. The spots then ran down the sides of the bowl and became fine, glassy, brown streaks.215

215

Wood, 148 – 149.

138

Plate 10.

139

A SET OF GILT-SILVER DISHES WITH BAMBOO, PLUM BLOSSOM, BUTTERFLY, AND BIRD DECORATION Southern Song (1127 – 1279) – Yuan (1271 – 1368) dynasty D. 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm) to 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art Provenance:

Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

A thin steeply wall rising from a small flattened foot rim reach to a rounded everted mouth, this conical shaped tea bowl quietly sitting on a six-petal flower-shaped cup stand; together with another conical shaped tea bowl and a six-petal flower-shaped saucer dish.

After Northern Song was conquered by the Jin dynasty (1115- 1234) in 1127, Song Huizong and his son Qinzhong were captured in the North, Huizong's ninth son Zhao Gou known as Song Gaozong (1107 – 1187, r.

1127 - 1162) escaped to the South, established the Southern Song dynasty, and located the capital in Linan (present day Zhejiang). It is an important period in the history of China's cultural development, because of the high level of development of literature, the arts, education, religion and economics.216

216

National Palace Museum Taipei, Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the Southern Song, National Palace Museum of Taipei, http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh99/southernsong/en_01.html, (accessed 1st September 2013).

140

Although in the early Southern Song period, the court had limited the use of silver and gold metal works, in the middle and late Southern Song time, the use of silver and gold metal works were very popular among the general public. Most of the guilt-silver works used by the imperial court were designed and made in Wensi Yuan. The craftsmen who used to work in Wensi Yuan were also allowed to open their own workshops and to sell their works to the public. In addition, the court also bought in some high quality works from those workshops, and sold the surplus works to the public. As a result, the style and quality of these metal works which were used by some rich people or officials were almost the same as the imperial version. One Southern Song document recorded that the metal tea sets made in Changsha were the best. Every set required three hundred or five hundred xing silver to make; the Prime Minister Zhao Zhongnan used two thousand liang in gold to make a tea vessel set, and gave it in tribute to the Emperor, who was very happy, and asked how come the imperial craftsmen could not make such high quality work as that.217 Compared to another similar set of guilt-silver tea bowls with flower shaped tea bowl stand which was excavated from the tomb of Xu Jun, this set has a more natural theme decoration on the surface.

Compared to the porcelain vessels that were popular in Northern Song, 217

Cai Guifen, 'Zhuangyan Yu Xiqiao: Nasong de Gongyi yu Shenghuo (Solemn and Sinocalanus: The Art and Life of Southern Song)' in Dynastic Renaissance: Art and Culture of the Southern Song, Antiquities (Taipei: National Palace Museum of Taipei, 2010), 23 – 25.

141

materials like guilt-silver that were used in Southern Song were much more luxurious. However, the natural theme decorations and the flower shape still reflected the strong influence of Confucian ideas.

142

Tea for Monks Plate 11.

143

ATTRIBUTED TO ZHIWENG (ACTIVE EARLY 13TH CENTURY) Meeting between Yaoshan and Li Ao Horizontal leaf mounted as a hanging scroll, ink on paper, W. 12 ¼ (31.1 cm); L.33 1/8 in. (84.1 cm), Dated before 1256 Signed: Yanxi Guangwen Two collectors' seals Inscription text: 全機劈面來，賤目而貴耳。便是水雲間，莫道無解事 。 Translation:

All moments of enlightenment come in a sudden, why distrust your eye and value your ear? Just as between the water and the clouds, don't say there is nothing to explain.218 Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance:

Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting depicted a well-known Chan story. After hearing of Chan master Yaoshan’s (active ca. 840) famous reputation, the 9th century Confucian scholar Li Ao went to see him. However, he was disappointed by Yaoshan's appearance, and said, “Seeing your face is not as good as hearing your name.” The master replied, “Would you distrust your eye and value your ear?” Then the master pointing up and down and further indicated that

218

Translated by Guan Lu.

144

the universal truth is just what you are seeing, such as “clouds in the sky and water in a vase.”219

As mentioned in the essay, Chan believed that everything is illusion that comes from one's mind; in order to find universal truth, one has to look into one’s own mind. There is not a distinction between small and great, everything can be Chan, even mundane things.

This painting was painted by a Southern Song Chan monk painter Zhiweng. Like his hanging scroll The Sixth Patriarch Huineng carrying a robe across his shoulder (figure 20), this painting was also executed in a pale monochrome ink, and executed in the style of an “apparition painting”.

The reason that Chan monk painters loved this style is because they believed that the monochrome ink could reflect the Chan idea that everything is one. In addition, the light inks and washes made the scene look more like an illustration, and this would remind the viewer that everything is unreal; one's heart should not be attached to anything. The style of this painting is perfectly matched to the theme of the story.

Because of the introduction of Chan Buddhism and the tea ceremony to Japan, this “apparition painting” style also inspired Japanese artists – a similar manner of brushworks can also be seen in Sōtatsu's hanging scroll

219 Maxwell K. Hearn, How to Read Chinese Paintings (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008), 66.

145

ChĹ?ka (Niao-k'0) (figure 29). Due to the reflection of similar Chan ideas in tea drinking, this kind of painting would be appreciated during the tea ceremony.

146

Plate 12.

147

ZHOU JICHANG AND LIN TINGGUI Five Hundred Luohan: Preparing Tea Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk W. 42 3/4 in. (109 cm); L. 20 7/8 in (52.4 cm) Dated the fifty fifth year of Hengxi (1178 – 1188) Daitokuji Collection Provenance:

Collection of Daitokuji

This painting is one of a series of one hundred Luohan paintings which were executed by Ningbo professional Buddhist painters Zhou Changji and Lin Tinggui. Six of them are missing, and sixteen of them are in the Boston Art Museum in the United States and eighty two of them are in Japan. This painting is one of the eighty two paintings that are currently in the Daitokuji collection in Japan.220

This series of paintings depict the story of Buddha's five hundred disciples becoming Louhan, and how they wrote the Buddhist classics after the Buddha’s nirvana. This painting depicts four Luohan sitting under a tree, holding red lacquer tea bowl stands with black-glazed tea bowls; one lay person is pouring water from a ewer in his left hand and whisking the tea for Luohan with his right hand. There is one Luohan standing in front of a rock and talking to another lay person.

220 Chen Qingxiang, 'Wu Bai Luohan Yanjiu (Study of the five hundred Luohan)', Huagang Buddhist Journal 5 (1981), 397.

148

The lines are fine, and the brush strokes are full of strength. The composition of the landscape was carefully calculated. The axe cut texture that was used on the rocks was the typical Southern Song style. The facial expressions of the five Luohan are all different. In addition, the five Luohan were depicted as much larger than the lay-people, which emphasised the importance of the Luohan.

Chan masters believed that drinking tea is a way to understand Chan. There is a very famous Chan story stating that in the Tang dynasty there were two monks who came to Zhaozhou to visit the famous Chan master to ask him about Chan. The master looked at one of them and asked, “Have you ever come here before?” The monk said, “I haven't.” “Go to have some tea!”

[Then] the master said, and turned to the other monk and asked the same question. The other monk said, “I have.” “Go to have some tea!” the master said to this monk. The attendant was very confused, and asked the master, “Why if one of them has come here before and the other haven't, have you asked both of them to have some tea?” “Go to have some tea too.” the master said to the attendant.221

221 Shenlun Fashi, 'Chicha qu' Xin Jie (The New Analysis of 'Go to have some tea'), Xianmi Wenku (Xianmi Library), 2003, http://read.goodweb.cn/news/news_view.asp?newsid=30651, (viewed 28/08/2013).

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Plate 13:

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LIANG KAI (C.LATE 12th – EARLY 13th ) Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain Hanging scroll, ink and colours on silk W. 46 3/4 in. (119.0 cm); L. 20 3/8 in. (52.0 cm).

Signed: Yuqian Tuhua Liang Kai Dated early 13th century Collection of Shima Ei'ichi, Tokyo Provenance: Collection of Shima Ei'ichi, Tokyo Literature:

Helmut Brinker, ‘Shussan Haka in Song and Yuan Painting’, Ars Orientalis, 9, 1973, 21 – 40.

This painting depicted Sakyamuni wearing a simple robe standing beside a huge rock and a withered trees; his hand was hidden in the robe in front of his chest. He was slightly closing his eye, he looked so thin. The withered trees and his floating drapery symbolised the winter. However, from his facial expression, the viewer can only see calm and peace instead of any cold feeling.

Chan scholars believed that this theme represents Sakyamuni has pursued sudden enlightenment, and ready to descending and return to people after six year living in mountain.222

This work was painted by Liang Kai, and is considered the earliest extant 222

Helmut Brinker, “Shussan Shaka in Song and Yuan Painting”, Ars Orientalis 9 (1973), 22 – 27.

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example of this theme.223 Different from his later style of “abbreviated brush” painting (examples see figure 21 and 22), this painting was executed in a more “academic manner” with very fine brush strokes. Together with the signature of this painting, these pieces of evidence all indicated that it was painted when he was still working for the Imperial Academy. The colour was carefully selected and the landscape composition was accurately calculated. The robe of Sakaymuni was depicted in detail, the highly moulted lines and sharp, curved brush strokes created the vivid moment for the robe, whereas two disciplined firmed parallel sinuous lines form the borders.224 This painting is now in Shima collection in Japan.

This Sakyamuni descending theme was very popular in both Chinese and Japanese ink paintings. Similar subject matter to that executed with Liang Kai's abbreviated brushworks could be seen in Isshi's hanging scroll Shākyamuni Returning from the Mountains (Shussan Shaka) (figure 30).

223 224

Ibid., 30 – 31.

Ibid.

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Plate 14

Plate 14a: Profile of Jian ware tea bowl with colourchangeable effect

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Plate 14b: Jian ware tea bowl with colour-changeable effect (from the top)

Plate 14c: Jian ware colour-changeable tea bowl displayed on a Song styled black lacquer bowl stand

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A JIAN WARE TEA BOWL WITH COLOURCHANGEABLE EFFECT Song dynasty (906 – 1127) H. 2 3/4 in. (7.2 cm); DM. 4 3/4 in. (12.2 cm).

Seikado Bunko Art Museum Provenance: Seikado Bunko Art Museum This funnel shaped narrow-mouthed Jian ware tea bowl stands on a small circular foot. The grey coloured coarse heavy body covered with thick, black blueish lustrous glaze which is thinner at the rim with a lighter colour and stopping in a thick roll at the angle above the foot; with iridescent spots ringed by semi-opaque bluish fringes on the black ground on the interior.

During the Muromachi period (1334 – 1573), especially under the rules of Yoshimitsu (1258 – 1408) and Yoshimasa (1435 – 1490), Chan Buddhism and Chinese ink painting became unprecedentedly popular.225 By the end of the early part of this period, the rules for the tea ceremony and the standard style of displaying tea objects had become well-established. Jian ware tea bowls became the most important objects both for the ceremony and for display.226

225 226

Hugo Munsterberg, The Ceramic Art of Japan: A Handbook for Collectors (Vermont & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company of Rutland, 1964), 99.

Mowry, 46.

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These kinds of Jian ware tea bowls with colour-changeable effect are also called “yohen” temmoku bowls and have been awarded the first rank among all types of temmoku bowls by the Japanese. They are very rare: according to the record, there are only four known in the world. All four of them are now in Japan and are Japanese National Treasures and Important Cultural Objects. Among these four remarkable bowls, this piece is the best. The colour of the constellations of spots that are displayed on the interior surface can change from yellow, to green, to blue based on how the light catches the glaze.227 When the white tea foam or green tea foam was raised from the bottom of the tea bowl, together with the iridescent spots and bluish-white streaks, like an embodiment of the universe, it would generate unlimited imagination. Because no shards have been discovered at this stage, the physical and chemical components of the yohen effect still remain unknown.

The admiration of the Chinese tea bowl also greatly impacted on the Japanese ceramics industry. The tea wares that were made in this period closely followed Chinese models.228 After Murata Jukō’s (1422 – 1502) revolution in the tea ceremony, more and more Japanese utensils replaced Chinese ones, becoming the main implements in the ceremony. 229 Seto and Mino kilns in central Honshu were the main areas that produced glazed 227 228 229

Wood, 151.

Munsterberg, 99.

Mowry, 47 – 49.

156

ceramics. After the introduction of the new kiln technology in the 16th century, the production in these areas increased dramatically.230 One of the primary productions in Mino kilns were tea bowls.231

Figure 32 is a Japanese Muromachi period (1334 – 1573) tea bowl from Mino kilns.232 The shape was definitely inspired by Chinese Jian ware tea bowls. The golden wire and iron thread crackle effect was suggested an influence of Southern Song Guan ware or Longquan ware.

Figure 32

230 231

232

Rousmaniere, Vessels of Influence, 95.

Henry Trubner, 'Introduction: Japanese Ceramics: A Brief History', in Seattle Art Museum, Ceramic Art of Japan: One Hundred Masterpieces from Japanese Collections (Washington: Seattle Art Museum, ) 29.

Trubner, 96.

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Plate: 15.

Plate 15a: Song brown lacquer tea bowl stand with a Japanese styled tea temmoku tea bowl

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A BROWN COLOURED LACQER TEA BOWL STAND Northern Song (1034 – 1094) A eight-lobed saucer radially ribbed on the upside linking a form of a globular bottomless bowl with a flared foot; the whole body is covered with brown coloured lacquer.

H. 2 1/2 in. (6.2 cm); DM. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm) ; D. ( at saucer) 51/2 in. (4 cm) Victoria and Albert Museum Provenance:

Collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Lacquer has been used in China since the neolithic period, when it was originally used to prevent decay. Due to the popularity of the use of ceramics, the production of lacquer declined after the Eastern Han dynasty (25 – 220). Although the production of ceramics continue increasing in the Tang dynasty, plain lacquer plates were still used in northern China and the imperial demand for lacquer wares continued to exist.233 In the Song dynasty, lacquer experienced a renaissance. According to Regina Krahl, the purest expression of lacquer wares was well suited to the aesthetic ideals of Song connoisseurs. They find lacquer wares were practical at the same time as being elegant, light but strong, delicate and durable.234 Although most of the monochrome lacquer wares in the Song dynasty were black, there were

233 234

Hu Shizhang & Jane Wilkinson, Chinese Lacquer (Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland Publishing, 1998), 7 – 18.

Regina Krahl, 'Song Lacquer: Model for Imperial Porcelain' in Chinese Lacquer from the JeanPierre Dubosc Collection and Others (London: Eskenazi London, 1992), 9.

159

some red, brown coloured lacquer wares too.235 When Song connoisseurs appreciated lacquer, they were not only satisfied with the look, but also enjoy the pleasure holding the delicate, almost weightless objects and of feeling the smooth, soft and skin-like texture of the well polished lacquer surface. Some Song documents even suggested that lacquer has lifeprolonging properties; by using lacquer as the material for food or drink vessels, they were hoping to get the life-giving essence.236

Although the Tang document indicates that in the period of Dazhong (847 860) there was a use of wax to circle the foot of the tea bowl to prevent the heat of the tea passing to the lacquer saucer, excavated evidence shows that the earliest use of a tea holder appeared in the Jin dynasty. Using a cup stand to drink tea became a fashion in the Song dynasty. 237 The Zhou Jichang and Lin Tinggui's Five hundred Luohan: Preparing Tea (plate 12) shows the monks were using red lacquer cup stands to hold black glazed tea bowls when drinking tea. The similar Song styled monochrome brown coloured lacquer bowl stands also are used to display a yohen temmoku tea bowl in Seikado Bunko Art Museum (plate 14c). In addition, a Japanese styled black glazed tea bowl was displayed on top of this cup stand in Victoria and Albert Museum (plate 15a).

235 236 237

Cai Guifen, 20.

Regina Krahl, 9.

Cai Guifen, 176.

160

Just like most of other lacquer wares, the production of this lacquer cup stand would take a long time. Firstly, very thin wood pieces were used to form the body of this bowl stand, then lacquer from a lacquer tree was applied in numerous thin layers. The next layer of lacquer can not be applied until the previous layer was dry.

The cup stands that were made from many different materials including ceramics, lacquer, silver and gold appeared in the Song period. The same inspiration from natural flowers in terms of shapes, both of the thin body and thick layer of glaze and lacquer, this piece and the Ru ware cup stand (plate 7) showed the close relationship between lacquer wares and ceramics in the Song dynasty. Regina Krahl believed that a number of Song ceramics was actually inspired by lacquer wares.238

238

Ibid., 11.

161

Glossary jinshi: is the highest degree in the ancient Chinese imperial examinations.

Transportation Officer: was a government officer that was responsible for local financial managing, tax collecting and the tributes transportation in Song dynasty.

Seal Scripts: in Chinese called Zhuan Shu. It was derived from ancient Chinese manuscripts. The most two famous versions are Da Zhuan and Xiao Zhuan. Da Zhuan had been written since Western Zhou (9th BC), Xiao Zhuan was first appeared in 221 BC.239

Regular Script: also known as standard script. It is the most widely used script in Chinese calligraphy. It was invented in Eastern Han period based on the Han Official script. The rules of regular script was created by Wang Xizhi and Zhong Yao (151 – 230). It reaching to the peak in Tang dynasty.240

Running Script: is derived from regular script with faster writing speed and more freely expressing of calligraphers' feelings. The

239 240

Qu Leilei, The Complete Guide to Chinese Calligraphy, London: Cico Books, 2007, 34.

Ibid., 44.

162

spirit or qi was emphasised to use to linking the strokes together or move from one character to the next. Wang Xizhi is believed the greatest master in running script.241

jin: is the Chinese measurement for weight; 1 jin = 250g – 270g.

Liang: is the Chinese measurement for weight; 1 liang = 50g.

Xing: is the traditional currency unit for silver.

Confucianism: Kuhn defined that, “Confucianism rooted in the classics offered an ethic based on humaneness, righteousness, appropriateness, filial piety, loyalty, the civil principle over the military, and the performance of rites. It was taken as a guide to action designed for a cultivated upper class – educational elite to rely on the service of all the other classes in a hierarchically organised society.”242

Qinbai wares: Qinbai wares also called Yinqing, the kilns were located around the city of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. The local porcelain stone that made the white and translucent

241 242

Ibid., 50.

Kuhn, 29 – 30.

163

body of Qinbai wares could be thinly potted. The glaze was used the combination of the body material and limestone. The colour of the glaze was blueish white. They were fired in a reduction firing in wood-fired kilns that the temperatures range from 1170 to 1260 °C.243

Jade Emperor: in Chinese is called Yu Di, is the most important gods in Daosim. He was believed to be the creator and Emperor of the Universe, ruler of all heavens, Earth and Hell and the Lord of the Imperial Court.244

Clay Body: The material used to form the body of earthenware, stoneware or porcelain.245

Glaze: is a layer of a vitreous substance which could be fused to a ceramic object through firing and oiling.

Saggar: Earthenware or stoneware box for enclose ceramics in the kiln, to protect the ware from dirt and to ensure even temperature during firing.

243 244

245

Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, 97.

One World: Nations Online, “The Jade Emperor”, Chinese Customs and Traditions Glossary, One World: Nations Online, 1998 – 2013, http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/Jade_Emperor.htm. accessed 02/09/2013.

Guan, Object Statues Report,7.

164

“Zhongni� style: is the most common style of Qin with the vase-shaped body. The surface is rounded; the bottom is straight and flat; the head is broad and sloping; the tail is narrow.

The length of this styled is usually over three feet, six inches.246

Dragon pool: is a long rectangular opening that below the shoulders and centred on the underside of the the Qin. It is located between the fourth and seventh harmonic markers.247

Phoenix pond: is a rectangular opening that smaller than the dragon pool, which is one inch beyond the feet, and located between the 10th and 13th harmonic markers.248

246 247 248

Wang Binlu, trans. Fredric Lieberman, A Chinese Zither Tutor: The Mei An Qin Pu, Seattle & London: University of Washington Press, 1983, 8.

Ibid., 9.

Ibid.

165

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