Tang Dynasty. Bore Diameter: 12.1 cm

This tea mortar looks like a shallow dish with decorative patterns on the internal wall. The roughcast is very smooth and coated with white glaze. The design is elegant and exquisite.

In the Tang Dynasty, the drinking method was very different from today: people liked to stew the tew powders inside a pot, mixed with ginger and salt. Some scholars, such as the Tea Saint Lu Yu, insisted to put the tea powder after the water was boiling, so that the original flavor of tea would be kept. Whatever the tea processing method was, the first step was always to pestle and grind the compressed tea bricks into powders in a mortar.

This mortar was made in the Xing Kiln. The Xing Kiln stuff was most popular in the Tang Dynasty, especially its thin-walled white glaze porcelain. It was very strong and tough and made a music-like sound when tapping on it. The Tea Saint Lu yu called it "silver-like" or "snowwhite". In the Song Dynasty, the famous poet Qin Guan used the name "the white jade jar" to honor the Xing Kiln porcelain.

 

Background Knowledge: History of China

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