Tea sets have been around since the beginning of tea drinking. From a rough and simple pottery bowl to a unique teapot, after thousands of years of changes, the shape, materials and materials of each tea set have changed. Colors and inscriptions are reflections of historical development. Famous tea set masters and artists in the past dynasties have created tea sets of various shapes and colors, and the works that have been handed down from generation to generation are rare cultural relics and antiques.

Tea sets, like other drinking and eating utensils, have experienced a process of emergence and development from scratch, from general use to specialization, from roughness to refinement. With the "tea for drinking", tea sets came into being. With the development of tea drinking, tea varieties increased, tea drinking methods continued to improve, and changes continued to occur, and the production technology also continued to improve.

1. Tea sets from the Sui Dynasty and before the Sui Dynasty

It is generally believed that the earliest tea drinking utensils in my country were used together with wine sets and tableware. This kind of utensils were made of pottery. Fou, a container with a small mouth and a big belly. Han Fei mentioned in "Han Feizi" that the eating utensils used in Yao's time were earthen fou. If you were drinking tea at that time, you would naturally have to use earthen fou as a utensil. Historical facts show that my country's pottery production has a history of seven to eight thousand years. The black pottery unearthed in Hemudu, Yuyao, Zhejiang is a representative piece of tableware that was also used as drinking utensils at that time. However, based on the existing historical data, it is generally believed that the earliest mention of tea-drinking utensils in my country was Wang Bao's "Tong Yue" in the Western Han Dynasty (2068 BC), which mentioned that "the tea-cooking utensils are used up, and they are covered and hidden." "Tu" here refers to "tea" and "end" means "pure". The "Children's Covenant" was originally a contract, so there was a clause in the text that required the children to wash the utensils before making tea. This is the earliest historical material that talks about tea drinking utensils in the history of the development of Chinese tea sets.

However, the earliest written record that clearly shows the significance of tea sets is the "Poetry of the Beautiful Girl" written by Zuo Si (about 250--about 305 AD) in the Western Jin Dynasty (265--316 AD). You (He is obsessed with tea, and boasts about the tripod.) This " tripod " is definitely a tea set. Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty quoted the "Biography of the Elders of Guangling" in "The Book of Tea: Seven Things": During the reign of Emperor Yuan of Jin Dynasty (317--323 AD), "There was an old lady who brought a cup of tea alone every day and went to the market to drink it. The people in the city bid for it, and from dawn to dusk, the utensils were not reduced." Then, the "Tea Classic" quoted another story about Sima Zhong, Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty (AD 290-306), who returned to Luoyang from Xuchang, Henan. All of this shows that before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and after the Han Dynasty, although special tea sets had been unearthed in our country, food sets and drinking sets including tea sets and wine sets were not included. During the period, the distinction was not very strict. For a long time, the two were commonly used.

2. 28 kinds of tea sets in the Tang Dynasty (including the Five Dynasties)

Because. In the Tang Dynasty, tea has become a daily drink for Chinese people, and people pay more attention to the taste of tea drinking. Therefore, tea sets are not only indispensable utensils in the process of drinking tea, but also help to improve the color, aroma and taste of tea. They are practical and An elegant and exquisite tea set is rich in appreciation value and has high artistic quality. Therefore, my country's tea sets have developed rapidly since the Tang Dynasty. The selection of tea utensils is described in detail in "The Book of Tea: Four Utensils" by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty. In the late 1980s, a set of Tang Dynasty palace tea utensils unearthed from the underground palace of Famen Temple in Fufeng, Shaanxi Province, complemented the folk tea utensils described by Lu Yu. It also gave Chinese people a more complete understanding of tea in the Tang Dynasty. However, the way of drinking tea in the Tang Dynasty was very different from that of today's people, so there were many tea sets that have never been seen by modern people. The following is about the palace tea sets of the Tang Dynasty. Part-by-piece description. Here, the 28 types of tea sets listed in the "Tea Classic" by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty are briefly described as follows according to the names, specifications, shapes and uses of the tea sets.

Three types of tea sets with capricorn pattern on bud buttons. Silver salt table with a foot frame - salt needs to be added in the process of making tea in the Tang Dynasty

The wind stove is shaped like an ancient tripod, with three legs and two ears. There is a bed for placing the charcoal fire in the furnace. There are three holes in the lower belly of the furnace body for ventilation. There are three brackets (grids) on the furnace bottom for ventilation and ash removal. Iron ash bearing is used to receive charcoal ash.

On the three windows of the furnace belly, the words "Yigong", "Genglu" and "Shicha" are respectively cast, which together read "Yigong Geng, Lushi Tea". "Yigong" refers to Yi Yin, the virtuous prime minister in the early Shang Dynasty, and "Lu family" refers to Lu Yu himself. "Ci Hai" quoted "Han Shi Wai Zhuan" as saying: "Yi Yin... carried a tripod and used it to adjust the five flavors and stood up as a prime minister." This is the earliest record of using a tripod as a cooking utensil, and Lu Yu was the first person to use a tripod to make tea in history. , Therefore, for a long time, there has been a saying that "Yi Yin used a tripod to cook soup, and Lu Yu used a tripod to make tea." Both of them are the originators of one soup and one tea. It can be seen that Lu Yu's first iron cast stove can be regarded as a great creation in the history of Chinese tea sets.

The ash bearer is an iron plate with three legs, which is placed under the hole at the bottom of the furnace for ash bearer.

The charcoal rod is a hexagonal iron rod, one foot long, pointed at the top, thick in the middle, and tied to a small one at the thin end of the grip. It can also be made into a hammer or ax shape for breaking charcoal.

Fire chopsticks, also known as tendons, are round and straight fire chopsticks made of iron or copper, one foot and three inches long, with a flat top, used for taking charcoal.

The cross bed is a cross-shaped frame, with the middle part of the wooden board cut out for placement.

The clip is made of small green bamboo, one foot and two inches long, and is used for turning the tea when roasting it.

The paper bag is double-layered and sewn with rattan paper (produced in Shanxi. Shanxi is in today's Shengzhou City, Zhejiang Province). Used to store tea, it can "not leak out its fragrance".

The mill is made of orange wood, but can also be made of pear, mulberry, paulownia and cusp wood. The inside is round and the outside is square, which makes it easy to operate and stable. There is a wheel-shaped sink with a shaft inside, which can rotate back and forth in the circular groove. It can be used to grind the roasted tea cake into powder, which is convenient for making tea.

Made with bird feathers, it is used to clean the tea after grinding it.

Luohe Luo is a sieve, and the combination is a box. The tea powder that passes through the Luo sieve is placed in the box.

Sea shells, oyster clam shells, or spoons and small dustpans made of copper, iron, or bamboo are used to measure tea.

The water square is made of thick wood, or sawn boards of Sophora japonica, Catalpa, or Catalpa wood. The seams of the boards are sealed with paint. It can hold a bucket of water and is used to make tea.

The skeleton of the water bag can be made of raw copper that will not grow mossy or fishy. In addition, it can also be made of bamboo or wood, but it is not durable and inconvenient to carry. However, it is not suitable to be made of iron. The bag can be woven with green bamboo silk or decorated with green silk. The bag is five inches in diameter and has a handle, which is one and a half inches long, making it easy to hold hands. In addition, you need to make a green oilcloth bag, which is usually used to store the water bag. The water filter bag is actually a water filter for cleaning and purifying water.

Ladle, also known as sacrificial ladle. It is made of a gourd cut open or carved from wood and used for scooping water.

Bamboo clips are made of peach, willow, palmetto or persimmon core wood. They are one foot long and covered with silver at both ends. They are used to make tea and stir-fry soup.

The cooked bowl is made of pottery or porcelain and can be filled with two liters of water. It is used to hold tea soup and "cultivate soup flowers".

Gui Gui is made of porcelain, with a round center in the shape of a basin, bottle or pot. The ?簋 is salt. In the Tang Dynasty, salt was added to sencha tea, and the ?gui is the utensil used to hold salt.

It is made of bamboo and used to extract salt.

The bowl is made of porcelain and is used to hold tea. In the poetry of Tang Dynasty literati, tea bowls were often called "Ou". Previously, it was also called "zhan".

The bamboo basket is made of white cattail and can also be used. It is lined with double-width scrap paper and can hold ten bowls.

札 Use dogwood wood to clamp palm bark to make a brush shape, or use a section of bamboo to put a bunch of palm bark on it to form a pen shape for cleaning the tea utensils after drinking tea.

The polyester square is made of catalpa wood. The preparation method is the same as that of water recipe, and it can hold eight liters of water. Used to hold water after washing.

The preparation method of Trefang is similar to that of Difang, with a capacity of five liters and is used to hold tea tumblers. The towel is made of coarse silk and is two feet long. Two pieces can be used for wiping alternately. Used to dry various tea sets.

The furniture is made of wood or bamboo, in the shape of a bed or a rack, can be closed, and is painted yellow and black. It is three feet long, two feet wide and six inches high. Used to collect and display tea sets.

Du basket is made of bamboo strips. Use bamboo strips to weave triangular square eyes on the inside; use double strips of warp to make square eyes on the outside. Used to hold all utensils after making tea.

The above 28 kinds of utensils refer to the numerous tea sets in the Tang Dynasty, but they are not necessary for every time you drink tea. This is clearly stated in Lu Yu's "The Classic of Tea", which states that different tea sets can be dispensed with on different occasions.

3. Song (including Jin and Liao) tea sets

Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the method of drinking tea in the Song Dynasty has undergone certain changes. The main reason is that the method of drinking tea in the Tang Dynasty gradually became the method of drinking tea in the Song Dynasty. People abandoned it, and the tea ordering method became the main method at that time. Since this century, a number of tombs from the Liao Dynasty have been excavated in Xuanhua, Hebei Province. Among them, there is a picture of tea ordering in the mural of tomb No. 7, which provides us with a vivid scene of tea drinking using the tea ordering method at that time.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, drinking tea by ordering tea became even more popular. However, the way people drank tea in the Song Dynasty, whether it was the coexistence of the tea-making method and the tea-making method in the early stage, or the tea-making method in the later period, all came from the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the tea-drinking utensils are roughly the same as those in the Tang Dynasty, except for the tea-making method. , has gradually been replaced by tea bottles. Cai Xiang of the Northern Song Dynasty specifically wrote "On Tea Utensils" in his "Tea Records". He said that tea utensils at that time included tea roasters, tea cages, anvils, tea bowls, tea grinders, tea cups, tea cups, teaspoons, and soup bottles. .

The tea utensils listed in Song Huizong's "Daguan Tea Theory" include mills, Luo, cups, spoons, bowls, bottles, ladles, etc. The contents of these tea utensils are consistent with those mentioned in Cai Xiang's "Tea Records" are roughly the same. It is worth mentioning the "Illustrated Praise for Tea Sets" written by Shen'an in the Southern Song Dynasty. The real name of the old man Shen'an is unknown. In the fifth year of Xianchun of the Song Dynasty (1269 AD), he collected all the tea utensils of the Song Dynasty and drew twelve tea utensils using the traditional line drawing method. He called it "Mr. Twelve" and named it "Mr. Twelve". In the Song Dynasty, the official system included professional titles, names, characters, and titles, which shows that the upper class at that time loved tea sets. The author also commented "like" on the "Mr. Twelve" in the "Picture".

In fact, the pictures listed in "Illustrated Praise for Tea Sets" show that Wei Honglu refers to the tea roasting furnace for roasting tea, Mudaizhi refers to the tea mortar for pounding tea, and Jin Facao refers to The tea grinder used to grind tea, Shi Zhuan refers to the tea grinder used to grind tea, Hu Yuanwai refers to the water ladle used to measure water, Luo Shumi refers to the chalao used to sift tea, and Zongzheng refers to the tea grinder used to grind tea. Tea broom, Qi Diao Mi Ge refers to the holder used to hold tea powder, Tao Baowen refers to the tea cup, Tang Ti Dian refers to the soup bottle used to pour soup, Assistant Master Zhu refers to the tea spoon used to boil the tea soup. The official side refers to the tea towel used to clean the tea set.

Although the types and quantities of tea drinking utensils of the Song Dynasty are not much less than those of the Tang Dynasty. However, tea sets in the Song Dynasty paid more attention to legality and became more and more refined in shape. For example, the cup used for drinking tea, the kettle (bottle) used for filling water, the qiang used for roasting tea, and the pawn used for making fire, etc. are not only more exquisite in texture, but also more refined in production.

4. Yuan Dynasty tea sets

Yuan Dynasty tea sets In a sense, whether it is tea processing, tea drinking methods, or tea sets used, the Yuan Dynasty is the inheritance Tang, Song, a transition period between Qi Ming and Qing Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty ruled China for less than a hundred years. In the history of the development of tea culture, there is no monograph on tea, but some traces of tea sets can still be found in poems, calligraphy and paintings. At that time, some people used the tea-making method to drink tea, but most of them used boiling water to brew loose tea directly.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the method of directly brewing loose tea with boiling water was relatively common. This can not only be found in the poems of many Yuan people, but also from the unearthed tomb of Yuan Feng Daozhen. Evidence can be found in the murals. In the picture, there is no tea grinder, and of course there is no need to grind the tea. From the tea utensils used and the order in which they are placed, as well as the movements of the characters, it can be seen that people are brewing and drinking tea directly with boiling water. An engraved Yuan Yingqing kettle used for ordering tea.

5. Ming Dynasty tea sets

The tea sets of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be a big change for the Tang and Song Dynasties, because in the Tang and Song Dynasties, people mainly drank cake tea and used sencha Method or tea ordering method and corresponding tea sets. In the Yuan Dynasty, strips of loose tea had emerged across the country, and tea drinking was changed to brewing directly with boiling water. In this way, the Zhicha, Tencha, Luocha, and tea-making utensils of the Tang and Song Dynasties became redundant, and Some new varieties of tea sets stand out. The Ming Dynasty was the finalization of these new tea sets, because from the Ming Dynasty to the present, the types of tea sets used by people have basically not changed much, only the style or texture of the tea sets have changed.

In addition, because people in the Ming Dynasty drank loose tea in strips, tea storage and roasting equipment was more important than in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Before drinking tea, rinsing the tea with water is unique to people in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in terms of the whole process of drinking tea, 16 tea sets were listed in Ming Gao Lian's "Eight Notes of Zunsheng" , plus a total of 7 tea storage utensils, a total of 23 pieces. However, many of them have nothing to do with boiling water, making tea, and drinking tea, and they seem to be far-fetched. This has been clearly stated in "Changwu Zhi" by Wen Zhenheng of the Ming Dynasty: "Cooking Tests of Tea in My Dynasty" "The method" is "extraordinarily simple", "Ning Te's talk about Wufu, Yuntun, Kujiejun, Jiancheng, etc. is just for the purpose." Zhang Qiande's "Tea Classic" in the Ming Dynasty wrote a special article "On Utensils", which mentioned that at that time There are only 8 tea sets including tea baking, tea cage, soup bottle, teapot, tea cup, paper bag, tea washer, tea bottle and tea stove.

However, although tea sets in the Ming Dynasty were simple, they also had specific requirements. They also paid attention to production methods, specifications, and texture. Especially the advent of new tea sets and the improvement of tea set making techniques were more advanced than those in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Big progress. Especially in tea-drinking utensils, the most prominent features are the emergence of small teapots and the great changes in the shape and color of tea cups.

In general, compared with previous generations, the most innovative tea sets in the Ming Dynasty were small teapots, and the most improved ones were tea cups, which were all made of pottery or porcelain. During this period, the white porcelain tea sets and blue and white porcelain tea sets in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and the purple sand tea sets in Yixing, Jiangsu Province achieved great development, and entered a new era of extreme sophistication in terms of color and shape, variety and style.

6. Qing Dynasty Tea Set

During the Qing Dynasty, teas developed greatly. In addition to green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, dark tea and yellow tea appeared. Six major categories of tea have been formed. But the shape of these teas is still strip-shaped loose tea. Therefore, no matter what kind of tea, drinking still follows the direct brewing method of the Ming Dynasty. Under this circumstance, the tea sets of the Qing Dynasty basically did not break through the norms of the Ming Dynasty in terms of type and form.

Tea cups and teapots in the Qing Dynasty were usually made of pottery or porcelain. The period of Kangxi and Qianlong was the most prosperous, and the most outstanding thing was "porcelain for scenery and pottery for scenery". The tea cups of the Qing Dynasty and the covered bowls popular during the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns are the most famous. Most of the fine porcelain tea sets of the Qing Dynasty were produced in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. At that time, in addition to continuing to produce blue and white porcelain and multicolored porcelain tea sets, they also created pastel and enamel tea sets. The purple sand pottery tea sets in Yixing, Jiangsu Province during the Qing Dynasty not only inherited the tradition, but also made new developments. It is particularly worth mentioning that Chen Mansheng, who was the magistrate of Liyang County at the time and one of the "Eight Families of Xiling", is said to have designed the novel and unique "Eight Pot Style", which was made by brothers and sisters Yang Pengnian and Yang Fengnian. At that time, Chen Mansheng used a bamboo knife to carve inscriptions or calligraphy and paintings on the pot. The "Mansheng Pot" made by this craftsman and designed by literati created a new trend for Yixing purple clay teapots and added a cultural atmosphere. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing years, Yixing Zisha also introduced pastel teapots glazed and fired with red, green, white and other different stone powders, which made a new breakthrough in the traditional clay teapot production process.

In addition, since the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou's bodiless lacquer tea sets, Sichuan's bamboo tea sets, and Hainan's biological (such as coconuts, shells, etc.) tea sets have also begun to appear, unique and cute, and eventually The tea sets of the Qing Dynasty were colorful and formed a new important feature of tea sets in this period.

7. Modern tea sets

Modern tea sets have newer styles, more styles, more refined workmanship, and high quality. Among the many kinds of tea sets, there are expensive ones such as gold and silver tea sets, and cheap ones such as bamboo and wood tea sets. In addition, there are countless tea sets made of agate, crystal, jade, marble, ceramics, glass, lacquerware, enamel, etc.