On the “Twelve Tea Utensils” in Old Man Shen’an’s Illustrated Tributes to Tea Utensils

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_131How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Illustrated Tributes to Tea Utensils; “Twelve Tea Utensils”; Cultural Connotations; Cultural Values

Abstract

The Old Man Shen’an’s Illustrated Tributes to Tea Utensils stands as China’s pioneering monograph on tea culture presented in illustrated form. This seminal work meticulously documents the “twelve tea utensils” employed in the Song dynasty through an integrated approach of images and text, collectively embodying the essence of Song tea culture at the material level. Focusing on these twelve utensils, this study systematically examines their categorical characteristics and practical functions as depicted in the classic. Building upon this analysis, it further investigates the cultural connotations embedded in their nomenclature, symbolic meanings, physical forms, and accompanying eulogies, with the aim of conducting an in-depth exploration of the cultural value of the Illustrated Tributes to Tea Utensils. The research not only facilitates a deeper understanding of the distinctive features of Song tea culture - thereby illuminating the era’s aesthetic concepts, lifestyle, and spiritual pursuits but also contributes to the preservation and contemporary development of traditional tea practices. Ultimately, it aims to promote wider recognition and appreciation of Song-style whisked tea as a significant intangible cultural heritage.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xintong Nan
AU  - Li Zhang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/26
TI  - On the “Twelve Tea Utensils” in Old Man Shen’an’s Illustrated Tributes to Tea Utensils
BT  - Proceeding of 2025 8th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1213
EP  - 1219
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_131
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_131
ID  - Nan2026
ER  -