Early 20th Century
This tea set is an important masterwork of Miaoli Pottery, enjoying equal popularity with Beitou Pottery in the Japanese period. The Miaoli Pottery business was introduced by Japanese in the end of 19th century and then joined by Fouzhou and Miaoli craftsmen to initiate the prosperity of pottery industry in Miaoli. This tea set was shaped by compression molding and then manually embellished. The entire set of 8 pieces includes a tea pot, a tea tray, 5 cups and a tea spoon, all decorated with lotus leaves. On the edge of the tea tray was adorned with two squatting frogs, and the bottoms of both tray and pot were printed with Chinese characters, Miaoli. The glazes of different colors were applied to inside and outside. The outside is dark, lusterless metallic red, and the inside is burnished olive green. This piece is rated as a representative work of Miaoli Pottery from the Japanese period, dating to the early 20th century.