Steeped in History: The Art of Tea

Date: Sunday August 2 - November 29, 2009
Explore the cultural and historical significance of tea- after water, the world's most consumed beverage-through a magnificent and wide-ranging survey of visual art. Chinese paintings; Japanese screens, ceramics, and prints; rare English and Colonial American paintings; photographs and historical documents; tea-serving paraphernalia from around the globe; and much more, all tell the fascinating history of tea drinking. The subjects of the exhibition range from tea's mythic origins in the hills of South China through its enormous significance in Japan, its introduction in Europe by Dutch traders around 1610, its role in colonial American life beyond the clichés of the Boston Tea Party, and finally to its expanding importance as a global commodity at the height of the British Empire.