Tea set; Japan, first third of the 19th century.

Tea set; Japan, first third of the nineteenth century.
Satsuma porcelain.
Preserves original case with faults.
Presents marks on the base.
Measurements: 19 x 63 x 48 cm (case).
Lot consists of twelve cups, twelve plates, a teapot, a milk jug and a sugar bowl. All the pieces, made in porcelain, present painted decoration representing landscapes populated with vegetation.
In 19th century Japan, tea was not only a daily beverage, but a central element in the cultural, social and spiritual life of the country. The tea ceremony (chanoyu), deeply influenced by the principles of Zen Buddhism, reached a new maturity during this period, consolidating itself as a refined expression of the Japanese aesthetic ideal of wabi-sabi, which values simplicity, imperfection and harmony with nature. Moreover, with the opening of the country during the Meiji Restoration (1868), tea also acquired an economic and diplomatic dimension: it became one of the main export products to the West, which boosted the development of more modern agricultural techniques and promoted the prestige of Japanese tea internationally.