The cup has a hand and it can be as simple as a utensil for ordinary people. But now, it has risen to the realm of collecting and enjoying. In the past two years in Dongguan, people who like to drink tea have come to Jingdezhen to look for a batch of high-end porcelain cups at the kiln mouth or in the studio. From the porcelain enamel cups in the early years, slowly to today's antique blue and white porcelain cups, the number of these high-end porcelain cups is small, the price is high, and some cups require a price of 15,000 yuan.
Liangzhu is equipped with the most luxurious saddle, and the top grade tea is equipped with the most upscale porcelain cup. A tea-drinking trend is rising in Dongguan.
The rise of porcelain cups
As the saying goes: The pot uses purple sand and the cup uses porcelain.
At present, some elegant people who like to drink tea like antique porcelain cups. The history of tea sets is also an interesting evolutionary history. The characteristics of tea sets in different dynasties are different.
Before the Tang Dynasty, tea utensils were mixed with tableware. There was no obvious boundary. The Tang Dynasty began. Since Tea Shengyu wrote a book, The Tea Ceremony, the tea ceremony began to flourish, and tea sets began to be distinguished from tableware. The tea sets in the Tang Dynasty were quaint. The tea wares in the Song dynasty were beautifully fashioned, and the tea gongs were thick and thick at the bottom, mostly black. This is compatible with the popular tea style in the Song Dynasty. When fighting tea, the tea soup is white, and the soup flower is pure white. It matches the black teacup and is distinguished by black and white. It is easy to see the water marks and distinguish the quality of the tea.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, tea utensils showed a tendency of returning to nature, and tea plants admired white. Since the Ming Dynasty, the way of drinking tea changed. The tea cake that was popular before was no longer fashionable. The popularity of loose tea was also changed. Tea was also changed to tea. The green tea soup, lined with white porcelain, is more refreshing and elegant and pleasing to the eye.
Today people like to make tea sets like antiques. From 2008 onwards, the enamel enamel cups popular in the Song Dynasty have a beautiful and elegant quality, a pure and elegant appearance, a soft luster and a rich water color, making many tea drinkers obsessed with it. In these two years, the players began to pursue the Ming and Qing blue and white porcelain cups.
15,000 yuan blue and white porcelain cup
Mr. Zhang of Dongcheng loved tea and was very particular about tea sets. From 2008 onwards, he began to find a studio in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and made a number of tea sets, including teapots, teapots, and teacups. In his clubhouse, one can see him looking for a copy of the December Kangxi Cup of the Kangxi Craftsman in Jingdezhen.
A few days ago, Mr. Zhang showed the reporter a blue-and-white dragon cup that he had just brought back from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, a small cup asking for 15,000 yuan. Mr. Zhang said that the price of 15,000 yuan sounds expensive, but it also falls short of demand. He himself is also very easy to get one.
The cup is expensive in pigment, and the old Sumani green is used. According to historical records, in the Ming Dynasty Yongle years, Zheng He returned to the Western Ocean seven times from the Islamic region and brought back a batch of “Su Maniqing” materials. The blue-and-white porcelain baked with this pigment has a rich green and blue color and is stable in color. Mannichine has a high iron content and a low manganese content. It exhibits a sapphire-like bright color under proper firing conditions, and silvery black crystal spots, ie, “rust marks”.
Due to the rare pigments, the cups made are also particularly expensive. “This studio has a handful of old Sumani green materials, but they are used to make small pieces of porcelain, not large pieces of porcelain, because large pieces of porcelain materials are consumed, small pieces of porcelain materials are not used, but the price high."
The small tea cups placed in Mr. Zhang’s club range from as low as several hundred yuan to as much as several thousand yuan for sets of cups and even over ten thousand yuan.
"People who buy these cups are not just for drinking tea but they are also playing in their hands." Mr. Zhang said that the porcelain cup is changing from utility to artwork.
Master works rise 3 times a year
If Mr. Zhang took the high-end route and does not represent the universality of the market, then the following set of data is from the mass market. At the same time that manual fees and natural gas prices for porcelain kilns have doubled at the same time, Jingdezhen porcelain clay has risen by 30% to 50%, and Jingdezhen porcelain teaware has risen by 20% to 30% annually. For example, the price of a Jingdezhen blue-and-white handmade porcelain cup has increased from 80 yuan last year to 120 yuan. Of the various rising factors, manual fees account for 50% of the total. A set of enamel tea sets has maintained a 40% to 50% increase from year to year.
In terms of collection, the ceramic cups made by the master have a relatively large appreciation space. A limited-edition enamel tea set named "Xuan" tea set was sold in 2010 by the Dongyao kiln. It was designed by Ma Weidu and burned in the Dong kiln. It issued 1199 sets. This year's price has risen from 20,000 last year. 60000. Ordinary enamels have also appreciated greatly in the past two years. An ordinary enamelware cup is priced from 150 yuan in 2008 to 300 yuan in 2010, which has doubled.
