Tea Stains
Tea Stains: Finding beauty in unlikely places
Each cup, pot, or plate tells a story if you look close enough. Cracks, chinks, or even a hastily scrawled message in sharpie decorate each piece in my collection. That is what makes each part special, not their dollar worth or bragging rights. Instead I scour small thrift stores, flea markets, and even Goodwill to find these little bits of story and history.
The first addition to my collection was the terra cotta tea set. My mother had bought it from a seller at the Post Exchange on Fort Benning. The teapot and cup can easily fit in the palm of your hand. Black Chinese writing covers each piece, I was later told by would be told the characters describe drinking and how to have a happy family. The material of the terra cotta set is not completely finished as the clay is still porous. According to tea ceremony tradition, only one type of tea should ever be used with the set as it will fill in the pores of the cups and pot, essentially finishing the tea set.
The next addition to the collection came from a local antique shop here in LaGrange , Georgia. Both cups and plates were sold as a set, but now I know they are two different pieces. The plates are called Willow Plates, a popular design that was later copied by the English. Two cups with dark blue designs are a product of English Forgery. The writing on the cups means absolutely nothing and was only painted for aesthetic purposes.
I next acquired the salt glazed stoneware from Korea at a Korean festival. The woman in a small tent was selling a number of items that had belonged to her recently deceased sister to help pay for a funeral. The set includes six cups and one teapot, all completely hand made and heavily used. The special glazing technique gives it a rough tiger skin feeling, and small air pockets have burst along the floral design.
Then came the small brown teapot with colored slip decorations, which was originally an export from occupied Japan between 1945-1952. I found it in a small flea market shop in Houston, Texas. Two stamps decorate the bottom, one of which says “Madein Occupied Japan.” The other marking is a round yellow Characters that offers the same information.
Around the same time, I found the rice porcelain espresso cup in a Salvation Army store for about a dollar. Researching the cup a bit more, I found it was from a Finish company named Arabia. Small cut out designs on the cup were sealed with a special glaze, creating a unique design.
The bowl and other cup of a similar design were bought from Goodwill. The cup and plate have a lotus design echoing the Buddha. The bowl has a number of chips on the rim, as it was probably used as an everyday dish.
The rice bowl with silver and black bamboo shoots printed on to the surface. Perhaps is probably the most modern of the collection. It has a simple design and was probably used as an everyday dish for a family.
Finally I found a peculiar Dragonware Moriage teacup and plate in a roadside flea market. The surface bears a picture of a Japanese Geisha surrounded by a number of men. Originally designed by the Satsuma family, this piece appears to be a counterfeit because the seal reads “Japan” in thin red lettering. Nonetheless, the set is beautiful and intricate.
These cups, plates, and pots have filled a number of display cabinets in my kitchen and dining room. Most are not worth much, but I still enjoy taking them out and wiping off the dust. Stories don’t have a price tag.
