Enjoying the Tea

Tang Yin, Ming Dynasty

Tang bo hu, also named Tang Yin, a famous painter in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D), was a native of Wu country, Jiangsu province. He had been put in prison for malpractice in civil recruitment examination. He was talented in painting landscape, human figures and flower-and-bird which following the style of Zhou Chen.He was honored as the Four Great Masters in the Ming Dynasty with Shen Zhou,Wen Zhen'ming and Qiu Ying.

The background of this picture was mountains and waterfall hiding behind mist. In the middle of the picture there were several farmer's houses located on a flat area, with bamboos and pine trees aside. A scholar was reading by the tea table. There were tea pot and cups on the top of the table. Another young servant was cooking the tea soup by a stove. Outside of the house there was a small bright across a river, an old man was coming to visit this scholar, with another young fellow following him. This young fellow was holding a piece of music device in his hand.

Tea, music, simple house in mountains and books were typical reclusive  life style for the scholars in ancient China. By this way people showed their wish to escape from the tiring daily business and took a naturalized life. On the left side of the picture Tang Yin wrote down a poem of his own, with three of his private stamps.