The production of gold and silver utilities had increased greatly in the Tang Dynasty, because the Tang Dynasty is a most prosperous period in the history and there was a large demand for the luxuries from the nobel class. Thousands of gold and silver equipment had been excavated in the Tang tombs or historic sites.

This tea cage was excavated in the famous Famen Temple in Xi'an city. A whole set of tea equipment was revealed including tea holder, grinder, spoon, tray and salt holder. This cage was waved with silver wires. On the top there is a pagoda shaped gold flower sitting on gold lotus leaves. Both the flower and leaves were made from gold wires. On the bottom there are four standing feet made from spiral silver wires. At the junction between the standing feet and the cage there are four gold dragon head as the decoration. Above the body of the cage there is a handle bar.

This cage was probably used to bake tea leaves. It was produced in the late Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty the tea leaves was firstly steamed to make wet tea bricks. These tea bricks had to be baked first to get rid of the water, so that it could be grinded into powder. This equipment was also recorded in some tea books in the later Song Dynasty.


 

Background Knowledge: History of China

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