Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Prunus Mei

The plum flower is Taiwan's national flower. No wonder you also find it on this set of hand painted tea ware:


'Mei hua', prunus or plum flower is a symbol for resilience in the face of adversity. Why? Because it's one of the few flowers that blossom in winter, when conditions are very rough.

It's also a symbol of successful aging. This is the wish of children for their parents and grand parents: that they blossom as they get older and enter their last season of life.

Do I have to ask what kind of tea would fit with this tea set? Old raw puerh comes to mind right away, of course! But any old tea -Oolong, Liu An...- would be right from this symbolic perspective.

3 comments:

Groumpf said...

Having a set of these (all but the tea box), I must say these are really beautiful pieces.

The porcelain is a bit thicker than average (or maybe all my other cups and gaibeis are thinner ?) and the cups are bigger than the ones I already owned or saw, perfect to drink alone or in couple (the gaibei contains the equivalent of 3 cups - with no leaves).

The painting is really moving, and the surface is totaly smooth. These are going to provide great tea moments.

Anonymous said...

Bonjour, est-ce que ces articles sont toujours disponibles (ou le seront-ils à nouveau?) Merci

TeaMasters said...

Le motif 'prunus mei' n'est plus disponible et je ne pense pas le remettre dans ma selection.