Longquan Celadon · Pale Dawn Green Gourd Tea Tray
There is celadon, and then there is celadon that holds a garden of blessings.
£355.00
Specifications: 21cm (L) × 0.5cm (H) | Material: Ceramic (Celadon) | Colour: Fenqing — Pale Dawn Green
Place of Origin: Zhejiang, China
Handcrafted by Wu Yong (Celadon Artisan, Master of Arts and Crafts)
Handcrafted. One of a kind. Signed collector’s certificate included.
This tea tray comes from Longquan, where the craft has been passed down for a thousand years. It is made by Wu Yong, an artisan whose hands carry the weight of tradition.
On its surface, a gourd vine is carved by hand — seven gourds, large and small, hanging from the twisting vine. In Chinese culture, seven is a number of completion and transformation — the “Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper” that guide and protect. And gourd — hulu in Chinese — echoes the word for “good fortune and prosperity” . Seven gourds together: “Fortune gathered in one place” — a blessing of wealth, protection, and peace for the whole household.
The vine twists and turns, the gourds nestle together like a family — each one full and round, each leaf spread with natural ease. An image of abundance, carved in clay.
The glaze is Pale Dawn Green — fired at 1300°C, luminous and clear. Across the tray, the glaze pools thick and deep — like a quiet pool of water, like a piece of jade polished by time. Light moves across the surface, and the glaze seems to shift, now green, now blue — the colour of sky after rain, held in a single vessel.