Porcelain

Hand-crafted from thin, almost weightless porcelain, our Paper Porcelain tea ware is exquisitely beautiful.

Each piece is hand-shaped, then meticulously painted in varied shades of blue by master artisans in Jingdezhen, the center of porcelain craftsmanship in China. Details abound: from the perfect fit of each lid and the perfectly executed washes in varied shades of blue, to the hollow handles to ensure that each piece is evenly fired.

We recommend our Paper Porcelain ware for brewing green and white teas and for drawing out the sweeter notes of our Formosa oolongs.

Our collection of Paper Porcelain pieces represents two distinct styles of craftsmanship: “White Ware”, the pure white porcelain from which the pieces are constructed and “Blue and White”, for the rich glazes of hand-painted cobalt blue.

By the 14th century, craftsman in Jingdezhen were already adept at creating qingbai (“pure white”) porcelain. Shortly after the Mongols gained control of China, traders began to introduce the cobalt oxide, a pigment found in abundance in Persia but at that time unknown in China. Marrying pigment with porcelain made sense: the pure white of Jingdezhen porcelain was the perfect canvas for the rich blue of cobalt oxide.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), blue and white glazed white porcelain from Jingdezhen had inspired kilns in ceramic producing areas around the world.

The pure white of Jingdezhen porcelain comes from pulverized porcelain stone with the addition of kaolin, a white Chinese clay. The resulting fired pieces are pure white, creating a near perfect canvas for the stark blue of the cobalt pigment.

Each paper porcelain piece is hand-crafted and shaped.

Before firing, the underglaze design is painted in multiple washes to create depth and complexity before a clear overglaze is applied. Firing reveals the blue in the pigment and fuses the pigment with the glaze, giving the design depth and the surfaces of each piece the sheen of water.