Tea fairy
date. 2019
city. jingdezhen
size. 56.5cm x 89 cm
Arches Watercolor 300g/m
Acrylic
It is written in A Dream of Red Mansions that the beautiful nun Miaoyu uses rare and mystical water to brew tea: snow-melt of a winter five years before, collected from the plum blossoms whose aroma coils around the tombs of her temple. So, too, is it written in the ancient Chinese medical treatise, Zun Sheng Ba Jian, “tea accompanied by snow, a clearer taste will flow; it is the water which carries the energy of the sky.” Fundamental to Taoism is the pursuit of a balance between yin and yang. Yin is associated with the earth, and yang with the sky. Thus the tea leaves are qualitatively yin, and matched with yang water—rain, snow, dew—joined and blended through a process of precisely applied heat, a cup of sweet and fragrant tea is created, harmonizing the elements of yin and yang. This is but a small sample of the esoteric knowledge and tasteful care that the ancients applied to their appreciation of tea.
The tea fairy is the central focus of this work, and the clarity of her expression and the meditative focus in her closed eyes reveals her majestic nature. Centered in front of the Tea Fairy’s chest, we can see a wisp of celestial water descending through a bouquet of tea leaves and camellia flowers into the tea cup above the fairy’s palm. The image further employs a symmetrical and well-balanced composition to reflect the sense of ritual as well as the spiritual connotations of Chinese tea culture.
The more static focal points of the image are complemented by the dynamic details of the busy little fairy children, the imposing and statuesque Vajrayana guardians in the upper corners, and the subtle yet fierce eyes below, glancing into the void. The overall effect is to elicit a harmonious balance through contrast: solemnity and levity, indifference and joy. Thus, it expresses both the physical corporeality and spiritual essence of this crucial component of Chinese culture; not only the taste of tea, but its meaning, as well.
『紅楼夢』で妙玉が振舞った茶は、玄墓山蟠香寺で梅の花から集めた雪を溶かし、五年間保存して得た水で淹れたものである。『遵生八牋』には「茶以雪点、味更清冽、所為半天河水也（雪を以て茶を点て、味更に清冽なり、半天河水の所為なり）」（雪で茶を淹れえるとその味わいはより爽やかになることから、地に落ちた雪であっても天からの水である）の記述が残されている。ここからも先人らの茶に対するこだわりが伺える。そこには地を陰、天を陽とする中国道家の陰と陽のバランスを重んじる思いが秘められている。茶葉の性質の多くは陰寒とされるため、天の陽水（雨水、雪水、甘露など）で地の陰寒の茶を煮るのである。
絵図では、茶仙の前で天上の水と地上の茶が左右交互に茶仙の手によって交わり、芳醇な茶が出来上がる。それはまさに陰と陽のバランスが保たれた美である。
水と茶が一筋、それぞれの傍らには一輪のサザンカ、右手を上に左手を下にして粛として中央に座り、かすかに半目となっている茶仙からは淡泊でありながらも威厳が垣間見える。全体的に対称と平衡の構図となり、中国式茶文化の儀式感と精神を表している。
ウロチョロする仙童、護法の金剛、虚空の中怒目でにらむ法眼などのディテールは全体の厳粛さと活発さ、淡泊と歓喜の対比を浮き彫りにし、まさに豊富な茶の口当たりと奥深い境地のごとくである。