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The Art of Tea

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Shields Library (Archives and Special Collections Reading Room)
February 3, 2026 - March 20, 2026

The Art of Tea exhibit, on display in Shields Library’s Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, celebrates the UC Davis Global Tea Institute‘s 11th Annual Colloquium: The Art of Tea in Culture and Science, Society and Health.

Featuring a selection of global tea ware from the Global Tea Institute’ Collection of Art and Material Culture, the exhibit considers the different aspects of tea consumption and connoisseurship from the 18th century to the present day. Farmed as early as China’s Neolithic era (c. 3600 BCE), tea leaves rapidly spread throughout the globe in the past millennium, resulting in a diverse array of tea wares. This exhibition not only displays a sampling of these objects, but also highlights the Japanese art of tea, or chadō.

The exhibit was curated by Grace Wu and Mengchen Sang, graduate students in the UC Davis Department of Art History.

Selected Items from the Exhibit

Open book with woodcarved illustrations on both pages of tea caddy knots.
This rare 1801 book, Fukuro musubi (Tying the Tea Caddy Silk Storage Bag), contains images of 65 intricate ways to tie tea caddy knots. These knots were important to prevent poisoning. (Maya Lee/UC Davis Library)
Two Japanese lidded water jars for tea ceremony.
Two Mizusashi (lidded Japanese water jars, for tea ceremony). Left, the pre-1940 stoneware water jar by Miyanaga Tozan and calligrapher Muto Sanji is dark glazed with an etching of a crane. Right, the 1910 porcelain water jar by Ito Tozan I features a foliate edge design and imperial crest. (Maya Lee/UC Davis Library)
black stoneware teapot with floral pattern.
A 19th century stoneware teapot with painted floral motifs by Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, England. (Maya Lee/UC Davis Library)