Lot 5001. A sancai-glazed pottery tea set, Tang dynasty (618-907). Lot sold: 60,480 HKD (Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2021

comprising of a jar, five cups and a circular tray. 

Tray 22.7 cm, Cup 6.6 cm, Jar 8.4 cm.

Note: Sancai-glazed sets of cups and circular trays are believed to be used in funerary tea rituals. A closely related set with six cups in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Lü Chenglong, ed., Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum Vol. I The Neolithic Period to Five Dynasties, Beijing, 2021, pl. 158.

Compare also similar sets without the central jar, including one with nine cups from the Idemitsu Collection illustrated in The 15th Anniversary Catalogue, Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1981, no. 616 and another with six cups from the Arthur M. Sackler collection, sold in Christie's New York, 19th September 2014, lot 716.

Sotheby's. Echoes of Fragrance – Evolution of Tea Culture from the Tang to the Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 16 December 2021