Tea utensils of the 3rd kind

Equipment for making a cup of Chinese tea comes in many different forms and sizes. Some prefer smaller tea set to brew their favourite cup of tea while others like gigantic structure to do the same thing.

Here there is a tea table comes with stools. Guess how much it is worth? I was told that a businessman offered the owner 2 bungalows just to exchange for this table. What make this table so valuable as to cost the businessman such a high price?

 

Well, this table is made from the famous huanghuali wood. Just look at the size of the table and you can imagine how many hundreds of years it took for the tree to grow to that size. This wood had been very precious since ancient time. Emperors had been using this wood to make their palaces due to its unique texture and grains. Due to scarcity, this wood can be few hundred times (if not thousand of times) more expensive than gold. The wood also gives off a pleasant scent, a fragrance that resemble some herbal medicine.

 

This table also comes with decorative carvings of animals that represent the twelve animals of the Chinese lunar calendar.

Another unique tea furniture carved from wood. It is interesting to entertain guests for tea drinking sessions with such an exquisite setup.

If you can't afford gigantic tea set of tea furniture, a smaller tea set is just ideal to brew your nice cup of puerh or iron goddess of mercy. This tea set may still be costly as it is elegantly made from good quality wood.

 

This tea set also looks grand due to its size and the beautiful carving at the far end. It comes with a drain pipe for connection to an external drainage pipe.

 

Bamboo is also an ideal material to make tea set. I also own one such tea set which I paid 30 dollars from a merchant few months ago. Below is the tea set I have been using for many years in my office.

My new tea set



 

Another gigantic tea furniture

If you like to brew Chinese tea, I am sure you would also like to own some high quality tea utensils or tea set. These things enhance your tea making sessions and you will enjoy making and drinking tea. You sure have endless fun and excitement when using these things in your everyday life.

A blue egg

Lapis lazuli is a gemstone that has a deep blue colour with golden inclusions of pyrites which shimmer like little stars. I recently bought a piece of Lapis lazuli stone that was cut into the shape of an egg, some thing like an ester egg. I enjoy looking at this deep blue colour, seem like gazing into the mysterious outer space and immerse myself in the galaxies.

 

Lapis lazuli has a grand past. It was among the first gemstones to be worn as jewellery. Many artefacts like swords and sabres, have been dug out from ancient graves in China. These artefacts all have decorations of lapis lzzuli on them. At excavations in the Mediterranean, chains and figures with furnishings made of lapis lazuli have also been dug out. These findings show that the deep blue stone was already popular thousands of years ago as a decorative stone to be worn by people in China and other parts of the world. It was ground into powder for use as a pigment in art works. Here, the colour was referred to as 'ultramarine', which means something like 'from beyond the sea'. Ground up into a powder and stirred up together with binding-agents, the marble-like gemstone often brighten up works of art in mediums such as watercolours, tempera or oil-paints.
 
Lapis lazuli is regarded by many people  as the stone of friendship and truth. The blue stone is said to encourage harmony in relationships. It help its wearer to be authentic and give his or her opinion openly.

The prices of this gemstone depend on the intensity of its colour. The most popular is an intense, deep blue colour. Fine crystals of pyrites which shimmer in gold will increase the value of the gemstone, whilst a restless, rough grain will reduce it.

I also have a bracelet of lapis lazuli.

 

Chun Fang versus Pi Fang

Pan Chun Fang and Li Pi Fang were two potters who spent all their life in making teapots. In their hot pursue for perfection in this art, they had created some masterpieces. It is indeed fortunate for me to have collected some of their teapots in the early 1990s.

Why were they so famous in the early 80s and 90s? There was a saying in Yixing during that time, in  all the male potters there is Chun Fang and in  all the female potters there is Pifang (男有春芳，女有碧芳), this explained their popularity among the potters in Yixing. Obviously they were well known in the art of teapot making and both shared the last name Fang. They were  both senior craftsmasters and both were at a very young age. Li Pifang came to Singapore in the 1900s and brought her teapots for an exhibition organised by Chang Su Trading company. Prof Pan is also no stranger in Singapore as he visited Singapore on numerous occasions, to hold exhibition of his works and give talks to art collectors.

I have collected quite a number of their teapots and I am really pleased with them. Of course, Prof Pan is famous for his pumpkin teapots while Pi Fang was good at making teapots of traditional shape and design. She made them with such perfection that it is a pleasure to use them to brew tea. Of course one has to be very careful when handling these pots as they are really precious. Do you know why? Li Pi Fang passed away in 2004. Some one told me that she committed suicide. So there would be no teapot made by her after 2004. Prof Pan is currently of an advanced age, I am not sure if he is still actively engaged in teapot making. He used to be a professor at the Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts. He had conducted many training courses in creativity and artistic design in area of art and craft.

Prof Pan's exhibition in 1991

Prof Pan's Pumpkin teapots

Purplish clay pumpkin set



Red clay pumpkin set

潘春芳 南京艺术学院教授、硕导 江苏省陶艺学会副理事长美国西弗吉尼亚洲立大学艺术学院客座教授 1936年9月生于江苏宜兴，1955年入宜兴紫砂工艺厂，师从朱可心学艺。1964年毕业于中央艺术陶瓷系本科，1978年入研究生班。1981年入南京艺术学院，主持陶艺专业工作。1987年主编《紫砂陶器造型》由中国轻工业出版社出版； 1987年《砂壶集》由香港远东出版社出版；1992年《茗壶竞艳》（主要编委）由译林出版社出版；1998年《宜兴紫砂》由上海人民美术出版社出版。陶艺作品《藏女》、《石城南瓜茶具》、《彩釉挂盘》曾获得各种奖项。1995年及1999年先后以中国陶艺代表团成员身份访问欧洲及日本。曾多次在美国、新加坡、加拿大、台湾等地讲学，并举办夫妇陶艺作品展。

Prof Pan in his early days

Prof Pan's name card

Li Pi Fang's traditional pot

Another of Pi Fang's work

 

李碧芳: 高级工艺美术师。1939年12月生于江苏省宜兴丁蜀镇。
1955年10月考入“蜀山陶业生产合作社紫砂工场紫砂工艺学习班”，拜朱可心先生老师，学习紫砂制陶技艺。在如父一般的恩师指教下，她虚心好学，心灵手巧，年轻时就享有“男有春芳，女有碧芳”的赞誉。
1958年8月受聘任紫砂工艺辅导，开始培训学徒，先后连续二十多年培养了一批又一批技艺人才，共计数百人，不知倾注了多少心血，在教授学生的过程中，既要完成额定任务，又要传授陶艺。她不断进取，在紫砂艺陶制作技艺上，不仅掌握了光器、花器、筋瓢器门类制作的泥性和技法，还悉心学习其他老艺人的长处，为己所用，不断攻克技术难关，不断攀登技术高峰。
1982年镇江地区授予工艺美术师称号。
1984年晋升为高级工艺美术师。

A 2kg black tourmaline

Recently I have acquired a 2-kg black tourmaline raw stone.

Black Tourmaline is used for protection against negative energy surrounding you. Also known as Schorl, it encourages positive attitudes, good luck and happiness, regardless of the circumstances that you find yourself in.

They are wonderful aids to both the professional healer and the average person who wants a stone that will be a positive force for good in your life... as it creates a positive attitude and mindset. This stone will help you to release stress, so you could benefit from having a piece of this crystal nearby. Stress can cause adrenal fatigue, and these stones are here to assist you if you have adrenal exhaustion, as they embody a useful energy that relieves stress. If you are prone to obsessive behavior, this stone can also help you to disconnect from these activities.

The black variety of Tourmaline has been found in a large number of locations... including Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Africa and the USA.

A cute stone structure

I bought this little cute stone carving a couple of months ago. It is carved from a type of shoushan (寿山石) stone called Furong (芙蓉石) stone.

The shape of this stone carving is just ideal for fondling it in your palm. There is a frog on a lotus leave by the side of a pond. Usually people carve such little things from jade so that they can put them in their pockets, admire them and fondle them in their palms.

Apart from this piece of stone, I also bought another wood screen. It has piece of marble in the centre. This marble has a unique feature that resembles waves splashing on rocks. I put it on my table where I make my Chinese tea to enjoy this scene.

My new tea set

Panda coins 2015

China silver panda coins are no strangers to collectors.

Ever since the first Brilliant Uncirculated 1 oz. pure .999 silver Panda legal tender coin was issued in 1989, collectors around the world have been attracted because the design of the adorable panda changes every year (except for 2002).

During my recent trip to China in March, I had my first encounter with these coins. I must admit previously I was not that fascinated with these coins and did not collect any of them but I do have some lunar new year coins which I collected in the 90s and early 2000s.

The panda coins I saw in a shopping mall were minted this year, the very 2015 version of the silver panda coins. There were two types on display, the 1 oz coin and another one 5 oz (155g). As these coins are minted fairly recently, they are not that costly.

A large silver panda coin, 155g

The smaller one is only around 30g

I have also collected some old coins of the republic era.

Below are three types of the Yuan Big Head, they were minted in the 3rd, 9th and 10th year during the rule of the Republic of China.