明 景德鎮窯青花壽字杯|Cup with character for longevity (shou)

Unknown

early 17th century · Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware for Japanese market) · Asian Art

Cups like this one reflect the seventeenth-century Japanese taste for Chinese porcelain. They also reflect a change in Japanese tea culture brought about by Ōbaku monks from China, who arrived with a new form of tea that was popular on the continent. Unlike traditional powdered tea, whisked in deep bowls, the new tea (called sencha in Japan) was brewed by steeping whole, unfermented leaves in pots and served in small cups. In size, form, and aesthetic, this cup would have been perfectly suited to Japanese sencha practice.

Artist

Unknown

Date

early 17th century

Medium

Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware for Japanese market)

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1923