Tea wares consist of mainly teapots, cups ,tea bowls and trays, etc. Tea wares have been used for a long time in China. The unglazed earthen wares, used in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces for roasting tea to-day, remind us the earliest utensils used in ancient China. Tea drinking became more popular and pubic in the Tang Dynasty. In the palaces and nobles, houses tea wares made of metals were served and for civilians porcelain and earthen wares were commonly used. In the Song Dynasty tea bowls, like an upturned bell, were common. They were glazed in black, dark-brown, grey, grey/white and white colors. Grey/white porcelain tea wares predominated in the Yuan Dynasty and white glazed tea wares became popular in the Ming Dynasty. Teapots made of porcelains and earth clay were very much in vogue during the middle of Ming Dyasty. Gilded multicolored porcelain produced in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and the bodyless lacquer wares of Fujian Province emerged in the Qing Dynasty. Among various kinds of tea wares, porcelain wares made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province ranked first and brown earthen wares made in Yixing, Jiangsu Province occupied the top place.

In line with the popular of tea drinking, various kinds of tea wares went on to develop, such as wares made of earthen clay, porcelains, copper, tin, jade, agata, lacquer, glass and ceramic, etc, All of which makes a rich and colorful varieties of tea wares in the history of tea-drinking in China.

Porcelain Tea-wares of Jingdezhen In the early part of the Tang Dynasty white porcelain had been regarded as “Inmitation Jade”. In the Song Dynasty white/grey glazed produced in Jingdezhen predominated the market. Jingdezhen, as a porcelain capital, made its name known to the world by its grey glazed porcelains with flower patterns since the Yuan Dynasty. Tea-wares of this kind were not only highly valued in the domestic market but also exported and well received by foreign countries. In Japan a special name were given to the porcelains – “Pearlite grayish porcelains”.

On the basis of grey porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, the multi-colored porcelains appeared. The products were known of their fine and thin wall and exquisite forms as well as their colorful and vivid drawings. They were also highly valued at home and abroad. Thanks to the porcelains exported, China won its name as “Country of Porcelains” since then.

Production of white glazed porcelain tea-wares was thriving in Jingdezhen in the Qing Dynasty. Two new products-“enamel” and “translucent colors” to be decorated on the glaze of porcelains were innovated and the multi-colored enamel porcelain tea-wares had reached to their perfection for their thin body wall, crystal pure white and classic styles. They were used only in the royal palaces and could hardly be found in the houses of common people at that time.

Tea, either black or green, infused in those rich varieties of tea-wares made in Jingdezhen, not only provides warmth and taste, but also gives tranquility and esthetic satisfaction because of their texture and colors.