Could somebody please translate these snippets of Chinese for me?
April 4, 2010 9:08 PM Subscribe
I'm curious what the Chinese writing on my friend's gaiwan says. Could somebody please translate these snippets for me?
Or it could be a very different style of Grass script. Grass Script is often the source for Simplified Chinese characters.
posted by sanskrtam at 11:24 PM on April 4, 2010
posted by sanskrtam at 11:24 PM on April 4, 2010
Best answer: The mark on the bottom is of the Heng Tao teaware company, which is located in Shantou City, Guangzhou Province. It's a commercial corporation and not an artisan's workshop or anything.
Jstarlee has the poem source right, I think. My stab at the meaning is that "the peony is more beautiful than Xi Shi," (a famous beauty of the ancient state of Yue), "heavenly incense borrows the eastern winds", i.e. all the most perfect things are from or are included in nature. I would guess that the art on the cup is of a peony, and that the thematic relationship is that really good tea is all the cosmos's most perfect beverage.
I still can't figure out the top, though. Ci Xi's poem doesn't have a title as far as I can tell, and although I agree with jstarlee that one of the characters is 香, the other could be any of a number of things (I kind of see a stroke at the bottom of the 去, which could mean this is not 法 but something with a 口 at the bottom).
posted by Valet at 12:33 AM on April 5, 2010
Jstarlee has the poem source right, I think. My stab at the meaning is that "the peony is more beautiful than Xi Shi," (a famous beauty of the ancient state of Yue), "heavenly incense borrows the eastern winds", i.e. all the most perfect things are from or are included in nature. I would guess that the art on the cup is of a peony, and that the thematic relationship is that really good tea is all the cosmos's most perfect beverage.
I still can't figure out the top, though. Ci Xi's poem doesn't have a title as far as I can tell, and although I agree with jstarlee that one of the characters is 香, the other could be any of a number of things (I kind of see a stroke at the bottom of the 去, which could mean this is not 法 but something with a 口 at the bottom).
posted by Valet at 12:33 AM on April 5, 2010
Best answer: 法香 as in 'Fragrance of the dharma' or similar might be possible, as it seems Cixi wrote the lines while in retreat at a Buddhist nunnery in Xi'an (see here; link also offers an interpretation of the poem that suggests Cixi may have been comparing herself to the peony).
posted by Abiezer at 4:01 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by Abiezer at 4:01 AM on April 5, 2010
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Cup Side 國色(從來)比西子 天香(原不)借東風
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
This is how they are arranged on the cupside
9 7 5 3 1
10 8 6 4 2
This was said to be written by Empress Cixi
Cup Bottom 「陶恒」/「恒陶」, I would say this is where the cup was made or the brand name.
Saucer 品茗永味 "May you always remember/taste the flavor when drinking the tea"
Most of them from what I can tell are in simplified Chinese.
posted by jstarlee at 11:09 PM on April 4, 2010