BLACK-GLAZED TEA CADDY, HONGTANG WARE, SONG DYNASTY
Dimensions: Height 7,8 cm Wide 7,1 cm Depth 7,1 cm
Weight: 180 grams
A small stoneware tea caddy with a compressed globular body, short neck and broad outward-turning mouth. Its rounded shoulders are covered in a lustrous black glaze, broken by scattered russet-brown flecks and areas where the glaze has thinned during firing. The coating ends irregularly above the foot, leaving the reddish-brown stoneware exposed and lending the compact form a tactile quality.
Black-glazed stonewares were closely associated with Song-dynasty tea culture, when the interaction of dark glaze, iron-rich clay and kiln atmosphere was appreciated for its subtle and unpredictable effects. The contrast between the glossy shoulder and exposed clay foot gives the small caddy particular visual presence.
Dimensions: Height 7,8 cm Wide 7,1 cm Depth 7,1 cm
Weight: 180 grams
A small stoneware tea caddy with a compressed globular body, short neck and broad outward-turning mouth. Its rounded shoulders are covered in a lustrous black glaze, broken by scattered russet-brown flecks and areas where the glaze has thinned during firing. The coating ends irregularly above the foot, leaving the reddish-brown stoneware exposed and lending the compact form a tactile quality.
Black-glazed stonewares were closely associated with Song-dynasty tea culture, when the interaction of dark glaze, iron-rich clay and kiln atmosphere was appreciated for its subtle and unpredictable effects. The contrast between the glossy shoulder and exposed clay foot gives the small caddy particular visual presence.
