Flagstaff Houses Tea Ware Museum in Hong Kong

It is amazing the number of people who automatically connect tea with the English.  Presumably because they introduced Afternoon Tea to the West.  Of course, a little thought tells us that tea comes mostly either from India or China.

The Museum of Tea Ware in the Victorian Flagstaff House - a World Heritage Site - has a fine collection of Chinese tea ware.  It is a FREE museum in Hong Kong Park and has exhibits ranging from the Yongle (early 15^th century), the Qing Dynasty (17^th century) and, the museum’s speciality, Yixing (post Qing). 

Built in the mid-nineteenth century, Flagstaff House was the home of the Commander of the British Forces.  One of the oldest surviving Colonial-style buildings in Hong Kong, it is a large white two-storey four-square edifice surrounded by pillars supporting a balcony around the upper storey.  A grand piece of Victoriana.

The museum’s historic collection of tea utensils are in porcelain, earthenware and even gold, including a “monk’s cap” ewer of the Yongle period.  The name is derived from its shape – that of the caps worn by Tibetan monks. 

Yongle began as white ceramic – nicknamed “sweet white ware” (thought to be because of a resemblance to sugar) – with a tracing, usually of floral scrolls.  Sometimes they were also gilded. 

Later Yongle was produced in red and blue.  For example, a white dragon on a red background or red sea monsters on an underglaze of blue waves.

Other items on display include a pewter tea set with a decoration of dragons, flowers and shou characters; a set of 12 plates in the famille-vert style representing Flowers of the Month; and a beautiful large red clay teapot with a pierced bamboo motif.

During the Qing Dynasty the earlier blue and white pottery evolved into several shades of blue, through the famille-vert and eventually broke into multi-colours.  The designs became far more elaborate, using landscapes and illustrating stories such as the “Romance of Three Kingdoms” and “The West Chamber”.

Amid all the beautifully elaborate pottery in the display cases is a Persimmon teapot.  This was made in the 8^th  to 10^th centuries and is shaped like a persimmon – brownish, round, with a lid, small handle and a spout.  The original of the Brown Betty teapot.

I only went into Flagstaff House to get out of the heat and ended up spending a fascinating time tracing the history of the teapot!

The Parque Maria Luisa in Seville

Having done the tourist walking around this wonderful Spanish city, my senses were screaming for something more restful such as a stroll through the gardens behind the Palacio de San Telmo. The Parque Maria Luisa.  The palace once belonged to this princess who, in 1893, donated the land for the park.

Most of the buildings were a part of The Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 which was held here and some of the extraordinary buildings represented various Latin American countries.

Nowadays they are put to other uses.  For example, the tourist office is in a tan and cream striped fort called the Queen's Sewing Box. It was once the Princess's garden lodge where she spent a lot of time. Sewing, one presumes.

The Peruvian Pavilion is modelled on the Archbishop's Palace in Lima. The Seville pavilion is now a theatre and casino with wonderful apple green, gold and cream interior decor and a gorgeous mosaic roof. Then there are the buildings of Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, which together form the Seville School of Dance.

There is a wonderful museum in Plaza de America. The Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares.  For anyone who is interested in Andalucia this is a must housing as it does an exhibition of the arts and traditions of the area.  There is the history of azulejos (ceramic tiles), and displays of costumes and musical instruments. The building is a glorious creamy structure called the Mudejar (Mohammedan) Pavilion. Green tiled roofs, tiled arches, towers and balconies.  Very picture postcard.

Opposite is the Archaeological Museum in all its neo-Renaissance splendour.

The gardens themselves are a variety of formal and natural with statues, fountains, pools and even a waterfall.  I fell in love with some of the wonderful ceramics which include everything from benches on which to relax to the playful – and colourful - ducks and frogs in the pool around the base of a fountain.

The piece de resistance in the park has to be Plaza de Espana.  As you would expect from the host country, the grandest building of the lot.

The square is, in places, like a huge chess board with a fabulous fountain in the centre. The building is crescent-shaped, curving round as if to protect the square. And all around is a stream edged with the most fantastic balustrade you have ever seen - blue, yellow and white azulejos. You can either stroll across the square to the main entrance or take a rowing boat round to it.

 

The entrance is fabulous. Across an arched bridge over the stream and into a colonnade of white pillars. And, of course, more azulejos to admire.  All around the building are arches and at either end towers that reach into the sky with tiled domes, looking like elaborate minarets. 

Totally breathtaking.