Master’s Inscriptions for Tea Kettles

Master Mei Diaoding is remembered by the people of the purple clay kettles as a great master who contributed a great deal to the elite literati style in the art of purple clay kettles.

Mei Diaoding (1839-1906) was a calligrapher, poet, collector from Cicheng, Ningbo, a port city in eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province. One of his ancestors was Mei Kuanfu, a cosmopolitan graduate in 1271 in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). He later died in a battle against invading Mongols.

Mei Diaoding became a calligrapher by accident. He flunked his imperial examination because of his handwriting was regarded deviated from the official script. Mei gave up his dream of seeking an official career through imperial examinations and devoted his ambition and energy to calligraphy. He became the best calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

His biggest hobby was tea. For scholars in ancient China, tea was a leisure hobby endowed with cultural significance. An exquisite set of tea things was an organic part of a scholar’s studio. Scholars naturally got ideas about what tea sets appealed to them. Gradually, making purple clay kettles became an art. Mei Diaoding was so enamored of making good kettles that he set up a kiln to make kettles that appealed to his aesthetics.

Research results show that Jade Kiln operated from 1862 to 1908. It was set up in Cicheng. Mei was the founder. It was financed by local enthusiasts and those in Shanghai with ancestry in Ningbo. Two craftsmen were He Xinzhou and Wang Dongshi from Shaoxing, another city noted for its profound history and cultural tradition in Zhejiang Province.

Mei was the chief designer of inscriptions for these kettles. Some masters in Shanghai, such as Ren Bonian (an acclaimed painter in the late Qing Dynasty), also helped design work. The clay was purchased directly from Yixing, a major porcelain production center in Jiangsu Province. The main products of the kiln were tea kettles in white jade colors. Other products included stationeries for the use of scholars. The kiln was by no means productive. It produced elite pieces.

Mei Diaoding was an outstanding calligrapher. His penmanship shows rhythm and elegance. Moreover, his kettle inscriptions serve as extremely concise essays in less twenty words with rich literary allusions. These inscriptions could be fleshed out into full-length essays. This is one of the reasons why Mei’s poetry in kettle inscriptions is highly appreciated.

Mei Diaoding was not the first man of letters who had a strong interest in the making of tea kettles. Chen Mansheng (1768-1822) is regarded as the forerunner of adding a literati touch to tea kettles. Mei Diaoding came 70 years later. And no one since Mei can be regarded as the carrier of this fine tradition.

Though there are many masters of clay tea kettles and there will be more to come in future, there is no master like Chen Mansheng or Mei Diaoding who is able to add a delicate literary touch to such an ordinary thing as tea kettle and turn it into a classy thing for scholar’s everyday life. It is hard to predict whether there will be someone like Chen or Mei in the future either. Probably there will never be.

That’s why some collectors treasure the kettles made by Mei Diaoding. Shanghai Museum has one kettle made by Mei in its collection.

Mei was partially a recluse in his life. A prominent calligrapher whose handwritings were extremely appreciated and could sell for fortunes, he resolutely turned down requests to write inscriptions for those he disliked intensely. Those he disliked intensely included high-ranking officials and business tycoons. He stuck to a life of poverty. It was said that once a fellow hometown man came to Mei Diaoding asking him to write an inscription. Mei wrote the inscription and found out it was for Li Hongzhang, a key minister of the Qing Dynasty. Mei was so angry that he tore the inscription to pieces.

When he died, he left nothing but a few baskets of manuscripts and discarded inscriptions accumulated over decades. There was no money for funeral. A few friends collected and sorted out and edited the precious manuscripts and discarded papers and got them printed. It sold out immediately in Shanghai. It is believed that the highly valuable collection provides an opportunity for calligraphers and researchers to peep into the phases through which Mei Diaoding evolved as a calligrapher.