Antique/Vintage Tea and Tea Ware

[tingjunkie]

I think this cup is incredibly ironic. It has an image of a farmer with a bottle of pesticide on his back spraying his/her fields.

Creepy. Sort of looks like a Kodama from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke.

[debunix]

Wow. I would not have expected to find that celebrated on a teacup!

[TomVerlain]

I thought it was a song dynasty cup from 1054 celebrating the arrival of aliens (with their breathing apperatus) with a wand of sunshine and magic healing. ( a la chariots of the gods)

I could be wrong though....

[rdl]

I think this cup is incredibly ironic. It has an image of a farmer with a bottle of pesticide on his back spraying his/her fields. With concern about pesticides today, I think it is ironic that it was a sense of pride that a Chinese farmer was able to afford and use pesticides. Certainly not an image one would expect to find on a teacup. There is a very common saying here. The person who does not use pesticides is the person who cannot afford to buy it. This cup is from the 70's/80's and very symbolic of the imagery used at that time.

"...sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly."
Erasmus
also a tea sweetener. have you tried tea in it, IPT? any honey left?
(long after the honey is gone the folly remains.)

[Drax]

It has an image of a farmer with a bottle of pesticide on his back spraying his/her fields.

Odd, even with your description of the scene, it still took me a moment to see what was going on.... I like the style of the cup, though maybe not so much the subject...!

[IPT]

have you tried tea in it, IPT?

No. I store my pesticides in it.

I have no used it yet. I just picked it up. I just had to have it. I have tea ware with images of factories belching smoke, ships, Mao slogans, girls on tractors, and power lines, but this is the first pesticide one from that time period.

[brandon]

Korean bowl, pre-Japanese Hagi.
Holds one pot of puer.

[the_economist]

pu sounds like a super pairing for this beauty!

[David R.]

Wonderful bowl.

[IPT]

Fantastic bowl. Was it intended for tea? I like the chip. It adds to it.

Could we see a photo of the bottom?

[IPT]

I just got another vintage tea tin. It dates from the 70's/early 80's and was intended to hold Yunnan Dian Hong Tea. It is a fun tin and really colorful. The other two sides are also very colorful with girls in tea fields.

[IPT]

I just antique hunting and came up with another batch of antique teacups and gaiwans. A couple date from the Republican Period or newer, but most date to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Of the five gaiwans, only one has a lid, but I have period replacements for two of them, so no problem there. I used to buy up teapot and gaiwan lids like crazy and people thought I was nutz. Now they all regret not buying them. It took me hours, but I finally got all these cleaned up. The question is now, where to put them.

[David R.]

The question is now, where to put them.

I have some room at home if you want too... especially for those gaiwan of yours !

[IPT]

Do not worry, I am sure I can find some place to stick them.

[Drax]

Wow, what a beautiful haul, IPT!

I could ask about a hundred questions on these cups, but I'll start with this question -- the cups in the middle right of the picture (form a rough "^" shape) that look orangish/rusty... what are those? They almost look bizen, but I'm guessing they are not.