Tea bowl, one of a pair (pair with B62M82)

Like their Han Chinese counterparts, Manchu nobles enjoyed using literary and poetic motifs to decorate their utensils and commissioned large amounts of lacquer cups and bowls for both ritual and daily use. Interestingly, Emperor Qianlong was likely involved in the design of this set of tea bowls for his personal use. He composed a poem for his winter tea— the Three Purities Tea (sanqingcha), made of pine nuts, plum flowers, and Buddha’s hand fruit steeped in water from melted snow. The lines of this poem were then carved into the surface of the bowls—possibly prepared for the emperor to drink that same tea in the wintertime.