Handwritten Calligraphy Tea Cup

This teacup is made of white porcelain and features a brown glazed band around the rim. The gentle contrast between the smooth white and soft brown adds to the piece’s elegance, while also allowing for easy cleaning. Four Chinese characters are gracefully handwritten along the bottom of the cup (“静”, “禅”, “悟”, “道”), collectively embodying the idea of the ‘peaceful inner world’, a calm and nuanced Chinese cultural ideal. Each of these cups has a high collectible and aesthetic value.

静 [jìng] : quiet, tranquil, peaceful, applying to psychological and physiological matters.

禅 [chán] : the highest level of aesthetic appreciation, transcending the physical world and free from feeling and thought.

 

悟 [wù] : the power to perceive and understand life and the world.

道 [dào] : the doctrine of the Way of Nature, and its body of moral teachings.

 

The occurrence of 窑变, or furnace transmutation, is a phenomenon that occurs throughout the manufacturing process of some ceramics. It results in unpredictable, uncontrolled color changes along porcelain surfaces caused by variations in temperature inside the kiln. This is part of why a uniform glaze can still result in many unpredictable and beautiful colors, manifesting the secrets of ancient oriental ceramic arts.

Chaozhou, a coastal city in Guangdong province, is one of the birthplaces of Chinese ceramic culture. The earliest ceramic and porcelain activity here can be traced back 1300 years; after long years of development it is now one of the largest ceramic-producing areas in all of China, and as such has earned the title “Ceramics Capital of China”. In addition, Chaozhou is well-known for its oolong teas, of which Phoenix Dan Cong is the most famous.