Lu Yu

[Puerlife]

In 1986 I had to go to Hong Kong as part of a plane ticket I had, and for some reason I bought what I thought was a very cool looking little ceramic figure. The face was almost exactly the same as this: http://teaism99.com/2013/12/ and the pose and clothing were the same but instead of a tea cup he was holding a fishing pole with a bit of string to which was attached a ceramic fish. I kept that figurine for a very long time but eventually let it go, probably because every Japanese who saw it gave it a disapproving frown and said it was weird, and because in one of my many moves I lost the pole and fish. I lived in Japan for a long time, where things Chinese are not exactly embraced. Well, as you may have guessed by now I recently came across teaism's blog post about Lu Yu and there he was again, my distinguished-looking 'fisherman'.
So who was Lu Yu? Here's a good in-a-nutshell answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Classic_of_Tea
And now I need to find a Lu Yu for my tea table.
P.S. Actually I found this through a Facebook post of teaism's which linked to his blog.
P.S.S. At the blog you need to scroll down to December 13, 2013 and maybe click on the blue letters, Lu Yu to make the photo appear.

[Rui]

When I heard about Lu Yu I went to look for a copy of "The Classic of Tea" in English. Since it is out of print copies that are made available are fairly expensive.

On my last holiday I found a copy in Portuguese (another language I speak) on sale for a couple of GBP.

If you get a chance try to find a copy of the book. It is a very nice interesting tea making background reading.

[kyarazen]

the problem about chinese statues is the tendency for the face to be a little "generic" and adaptable to different personas

the statue you are referring to with the fishing rod is probably Jiang Tai Gong 姜太公. there is a very common phrase that is associated with Jiang Tai Gong that goes - Jiang Tai Gong Diao Yu, Yuan Zhe Shang Gou, which means When Old man Jiang goes fishing (without a bait usually), only the willing will bite

very useful phrase that can be applied to many scenarios.

[Puerlife]

Ha, interesting. So the Chinese clone their historical figures in ceramic. That's really cool info but I think I'm going to choose to be blithely wrong and stick to my Lu Yu story in my imagination, throwing in a little fishing on his solo excursions to the wild

[kyarazen]

Ha, interesting. So the Chinese clone their historical figures in ceramic. That's really cool info but I think I'm going to choose to be blithely wrong and stick to my Lu Yu story in my imagination, throwing in a little fishing on his solo excursions to the wild

usually each dynasty/era has its own "typical generic" face features.

i'm sure Lu Yu wouldnt have minded some fishing, since he did spend many years in the wilderness

[Evan Draper]

the problem about chinese statues is the tendency for the face to be a little "generic" and adaptable to different personas

I have an example of the opposite. Someone gave me a ceramic tea figurine which I do not use, because it is horrifically ugly. It appears that the face was sculpted separately and then fused onto the body. I will not bother with a picture.

[TomVerlain]

Here is one of my guys who watch over my tea. Not sure if he is Lu Yu, as he sadly suffered an industrial accident during the "Second Plan" 5 year plan, resulting in the loss of his tea drinking hand. He remained cheerful in spite of this and sits smiling upon his rock, unlike Andromeda chained to her rock.

[Puerlife]

@ TomVerlain - Love it : - ) I'd look like that if I was drinking 2003 Yi Wu, too.

[Evan Draper]

Dunno, that looks like a wine jug to me.

[wert]

That's Jiang Ziya.

[chrl42]

In Korea, Jiang Tai-gong or Jiang Zi-ya (Gang Tae Gong in Korean) is a pronoun for a great fisherman

[teaformeplease]

Here's a picture of my supposed Lu Yu. He's holding a teacup and a book so it seems likely. The ebay listing claimed that he was made out of yixing (he's totally not)