Purple clay, simple and low-key but powerfully shaping the world’s teaware classics, has not received sufficient attention from the world. Since the 17th century, the tea utensil that has swept the world together with Chinese tea culture is the purple clay teapot. Those purple clay teapots are like small boats, carrying the tea drinking custom and sailing on the global trade network.

1 Schematic diagram of global purple sand imagery. Production/Yingge Ceramics Museum

"Zisha Odyssey Focuses on Taiwan" is different from many past exhibitions that directly discussed Yixing purple sand. It uses global history as a framework and looks at the image of purple sand presented around the world over the past 400 years. Exhibits from the Netherlands, Japan, Southeast Asia, Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan tell the story of how the purple clay teapots from Yixing, Jiangsu Province were exported to the world along with the tea drinking trend and became a model for teapots everywhere.

2 The Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands borrowed exhibits and unpacked them. Photography/Huang Junjia

The purple clay teapot originally came from Yixing, Jiangsu, China. It has not only become the protagonist of Gongfu tea culture in the Fujian and Guangdong regions, but also an indispensable role in European tea drinking, Japanese sencha and other tea cultures. The exhibition also compares the consumption, appreciation, imitation and transformation of purple clay teapots around the world. This article shares with you the image of purple sand as it drifts to Europe in a small boat, and re-evaluates the historical positioning of Yixing purple sand in the history of world ceramics and world tea culture.

3 Borrow exhibits from the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands to experience the scene. Photography/Huang Junjia

Variations of purple clay and red pottery

The most important presentation of Yixing purple clay in the context of global history in Europe is that Yixing purple clay exported to Europe in the 16th century is preserved here Teapots were made earlier than other regions; moreover, the purple clay teapots introduced to Europe come in various shapes and are richly decorated, which are rare in other regions. These features can be seen on European imitation purple clay pots after the late 17th century and European teapots after the mid-18th century, and extend into today's complicated Western-style tea sets.

4 When you walk into the exhibition hall, you will see this "wall of hundreds of pots". Designer/Hu Youhan

Purple Ware Coming from the East

The 18 sets (pieces) in the European section of the exhibition come from the collection of the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands, all of which have come to Taiwan for the first time. "Purple Ware Coming from the East" mainly displays the Yixing purple sand sold to Europe from the 17th to the 18th century. There are various shapes such as handle teapots, round belly teapots, square teapots, bionic natural teapots, tea cans, etc. The bionic natural teapots also include plum branch teapots. , gourd-shaped pot and melon-shaped pot.

5 Yixing purple clay wares for export collected by the National Museum of the Netherlands. Photography/Shi Jingfei

The purple sand crabapple-style appliquéd flat pot on display is very similar to a small purple sand pot from the late 16th century that is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, regardless of the shape, size or bottom of the pot. The leaf decorations are almost identical, and it is speculated that the two pieces may have come from the same purple clay workshop.

6 Purple sand crabapple flower-shaped flat kettle, circa late 16th to early 17th century, Yixing, China, private collection in Taiwan. Image source/Yingge Ceramics Museum

Research pointed out that Yixing may have established a workshop dedicated to exporting porcelain, referring to the export porcelain of the Dehua kiln in Fujian and Jingdezhen kiln in Jiangxi at the same time, using Yixing's unique purple sand mud to make porcelain that conforms to the requirements. Works with aesthetic taste in the foreign market, such as decal decoration, large size, etc.; important motifs include baby play pattern, dragon grabbing beads pattern and grape leaf pattern. For example, in the National Museum of the Netherlands, there is a melon-shaped pot with a hollow money pattern and a high ring foot. It has a two-curved spout and a rim decorated with silver buckles. The spout, knob and handle are all imitated as melons and vines. The surface of the pot body is covered with decals of large leaf patterns and fruit patterns. The applique method is used. The mud is first filled into the mold to shape it, and then it is lifted up with a tool and attached to the body of the pot. The squirrel hiding behind the lid is shaped using the mold. Then the details are carved and stuck on the pot lid with mud. The leaves are of alternating sizes, with delicately carved veins, and are dotted with bunches of fruits, which are plump and well-proportioned. If you observe carefully, you can find that the vines extend from the branches, from thick to thin, and their winding and lingering image is quite vivid and natural. The lower half of the pot body has a high circle foot and is decorated with copper coin patterns, creating a hollow and penetrating exquisite effect.

7 Purple sand appliquéd melon-shaped pot with squirrel and grape pattern, late 17th century, Yixing, China, collected by the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands. Image source/National Museum of the Netherlands

Yixing exported purple clay teapots to Europe. The three-dimensional decoration is its aesthetic feature. It uniquely and creatively interprets decorations that are not found in other export categories at the same time, showing another vivid style. Chinese style charm. After being exported to Europe, this type of pot shape became a reference model for their imitation, providing a design basis for emerging tea sets in Europe.

Brand Overture

Dutch Family Taking Tea, a European still life painting from the late 17th century, shows a tea-drinking scene of a wealthy merchant family in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tea sets imported from all over Asia can be seen on the round table in the center of the painting. The pot held by the male owner is probably a Yixing purple clay pot. At that time, the demand for teapots was high, but sales of Yixing purple clay teapots were relatively low. This prompted local ceramic factories to use red pottery to imitate Yixing purple clay teapots, and even established brands for domestic sales. This laid the foundation for the firing technology, vessel shape, and aesthetic experience of European porcelain factories in the 18th century. the basis of.

8 Dutch Family Taking Tea. Asia in Amsterdam

The Netherlands is the earliest place in Europe to imitate Yixing purple clay. Among them, the Dutch potter Ari de Milde must be mentioned. The founder. As early as the second half of the 17th century, Milder began to imitate the shape and decoration of Yixing purple sand. Especially in the decoration and decoration part, it can be seen that he had a profound understanding of the "plum blossom pattern". By this time, Mild's red clay pots already had a trademark - the oval "Fox" logo. This pottery factory also produced octagonal tea trays in the future. The plant patterns on the tray seemed to follow the Western decorative tradition and became acanthus and curly grass patterns. It is conceivable that in the era of pursuing Chinese style, such a profound piece of work was created. How difficult it is to create handicrafts with European local style; in addition, a more formal trademark can be seen in the middle of the plate - a teapot with a crown. If you pay attention to the plate, there are five "Fox" logos hidden inside.

9 Red pottery "De Milde" trademark eight-sided tea tray, late 17th to early 18th century, Delft, Netherlands, collected by the National Museum of the Netherlands. Image source/The Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands

10 white porcelain pots with painted floral patterns, mid-18th century, Meissen, Germany, collected by the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands. Image source/National Museum of the Netherlands

In the Netherlands at that time, potters with the skills to make pottery and the ability to imitate Chinese ceramics would migrate to Europe. In the UK, there are the Elers brothers from the Netherlands, who have brought imitation purple clay teapots to another peak of European localization. Among the three British red pottery teapots on display, except for the first one, which has the unique bionic natural characteristics of Yixing teapots, the other two have more or less changed to the local shape. For example, the taller one is speculated to be based on The metal coffee pot is made in the shape of a European metal coffee pot, and the decoration on it is added to the rococo style. It can be seen that Britain has developed from imitating the Dutch imitation Yixing purple sand to its own originality.

11 Pieter Gerritz van Roestraten (1670-1699), Still Life

12 "Shao Tianqi" purple sand appliqué dragon-grabbing bead pattern teapot, 18th century, Yixing, China, collected by the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands . Image source/National Museum of the Netherlands

The practice and gradual changes of European ceramics have invisibly led European ceramics to become further and further away from Chinese styles, producing their own unique shape and sense of beauty. At such a comprehensive point, can we say that imitating Yixing purple sand contributed to the birth of local ceramic brands in Europe? This is indeed an interesting thing.

Luxury tea sets and decorations

European tea sets appeared later than China, from free matching to fixed shapes after the mid-18th century, and even tea sets with more than 20 pieces appeared. . In images from the golden age of Dutch trade in the 17th century, tea sets from China such as a purple sand pot paired with a blue and white cup can be seen: a small purple clay pear-shaped pot with a metal chain, a blue and white cup and plate, and a water container. The exhibition reproduces the tea set combinations in the still life paintings, especially this Yixing dragon-grabbing bead pattern teapot collected by the Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands. The body, lid, and button are all in the shape of a drum, with a dragon-grabbing bead pattern on the belly and inlaid gold plating. The decorations and chains are carefully designed, with the "Shao Tianqi" inscription on the bottom. It is rare to see a purple clay pot with the author's inscription in European collections.

13 Chinese style figure cup, 18th century, Meissen, Germany, painted, private collection in Taiwan. Picture source/Yingge Ceramics Museum

Also displayed next to it are the white porcelain gold-decorated sugar bowls and teacups from the Meissen Porcelain Factory. The opening is painted with a picture of Chinese people drinking tea, which dates from 1720 when the activity began in Maisen. A collection of Chinese style design sketches drawn by Mori's painter H roldt.

This collection of design manuscripts had a great influence on the decoration of porcelain in European kilns in the 18th century; the cross symbol of two swords on the bottom of the tea cup was adopted in 1722 after the inspector of Meissen recommended the strong Augustus. Today it is a world-famous porcelain trademark.

14 transfer-painted white porcelain flower pattern tea set (27 pieces), mid-19th century, St. Petersburg, Russia, private collection in Taiwan. Picture source/Yingge Ceramics Museum

In the mid-18th century, afternoon tea drinking became popular among British aristocratic families, and complex tea sets came into being. Two large Western-style tea sets from the 19th century are on display this time. One is a transfer-printed tea set produced by the St. Petersburg Porcelain Factory in Russia, and the other is a Chinese Guangcai tea set customized for the American market. Europeans do not drink tea as Chinese appreciate tea soup. The Dutch were the first to add milk and sugar to black tea, so the tea set has a milk jug and sugar bowl that are different from the typical Chinese tea set. In addition, having a large set also reflects the sociality of the owner. etiquette. (Text/Jin Fangru, Huang Junjia, Xie Zongru)

Wen Shi Jingfei, Wang Shujin, Huang Junjia, Jin Fangru, Xie Zongru (arranged in order of text)

Picture New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum , Rijksmuseum of the Netherlands, this magazine’s reference room

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