The wood-fired teacup is hand painted by the artist Cao in Jingdezhen whose works are admired by a wide range of vivid landscape paintings. He has committed himself into hand painting for two decades and is qualified as a national-level class A artificer.
The teacup features an exquisite handpainted scene depicting a man is playing a traditional instrument facing a group of waterfalls. To the great extent, its wide painting area enhances a magnificent feeling to the cup overall. Made of white ceramic, the teacup is mottled with black throughout which results from the interaction with the flame and ash in a complicated firing process, giving an impression of Chinese ink wash painting. The teacup actually is not only a piece of craft, but acts more like a timeline that manifests how much time the artist spent working on it with the expert painting skill .
The teacup holds approximately 120ml of liquid, making it ideal for an intimate tea session exclusive of a fair cup if you just want to simplify the session when you are more focusing on other things . As the rim is pinched out slightly , the teacup offers pleasure to hold and prevent the fingers from the heat.
Note: A woodfired painted piece is usually accomplished by two steps as follows: (I) A piece is made of unglazed or glazed clay then fired for a few days and nights straight under over 1300℃ using a lot of wood in the kiln before being painted as a normal piece is done. (II) An artist will select a woodfired piece with a one-of-kind pattern or color resulted from firing which may come to him/her in a flash of inspiration. Then they will develop a scene, portrait or object on the piece depending on its appearance before a second firing to protect the painting from fading.
