A Tea Journey from the mountains to the table.

du 06 juillet au 22 septembre 2020
Compton Verney Art Gallery

https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/thing-to-do/a-tea-journey-from-the-mountains-to-the-table/

A Tea Journey: from the Mountains to the Table will examine how a simple infusion of leaves from the Camellia Sinensis plant in hot water has travelled across the globe to permeate every strata of our society. From the plant to the pot, tea has inspired all manner of artistic expression; from ceramics, to paintings, to poetry. The exhibition includes over 150 works, from the Tang dynasty to the present day, with new work and commissions by contemporary artists including Robin Best, Phoebe Cummings, Charlotte Hodes, Selina Nwulu, Claire Partington, Bouke de Vries and Julian Stair.

From Britain’s oldest sample of tea (c.1700, Natural History Museum) collected for Sir Hans Sloan, to specially- commissioned art and poetry, the exhibition juxtaposes the work of tea pickers with the wealth generated by the tea trade. Once a luxury item held under lock and key, tea became a household commodity and transitioned from the castle to the cottage in less than 100 years – captured in paintings such as The Tea Party (c.1727, attributed to Richard Collins, The Goldsmiths Company) and A Cottage Interior: An Old Woman Preparing Tea (1793, William Redmore Bigg, V&A).

The exhibition opens with a rare Chinese painted scroll on loan from The Ashmolean Museum which navigates a river journey through the Wuyi mountains of Fujian Province, home to prized Oolongs such as Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) and Lapsang Souchong. This will sit alongside early examples of tea vessels dating back to the Tang and Song dynasties, as well as a lidded tea bowl (gaiwan) loaned by The British Museum, inscribed by the Qianlong Emperor’s poetic response to the making and taking of tea.

A Tea Journey: from the Mountains to the Table will also focus on the Japanese Tea Ceremony and how this revered performance continues to inspire teaware and architecture. One of the exhibition highlights will be a tea ceremony house, The Umbrella Tea House (2010). Made of bamboo and paper, is designed by architect Kazuhiro Yajima. The house is not only leaving Japan for the first time, but will be transported by ship following some of the original trading routes used by British tea clippers.