This copy of 閻立本 蕭翼賺蘭亭圖 (xiao yi trying to swipe the lanting scroll) is Song copy of the Tang Dynasty scroll. In this video, I will analyze how tea is represented in the painting. Additionally, James A. Benn noted that this painting is the earliest representation of tea in a Buddhist setting and thus, this painting is significant as we see the role that tea plays in Buddhism.

Bibliography

Benn, James A. 2015, “Buddhism and Tea during the Tang Dynasty,” in Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 59-68.

Laudan, Rachel. “Monks and Monasteries: Buddhism Transforms the Cuisine of China, 200 CE—850 CE,” Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), Ch. 3: 171.