POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Tea brick made by the Zhao Liqiao Tea Brick Factory

Object No. 2007/11/1

Tea bricks are blocks of whole or finely ground tea leaves that have been pressed into moulds to form a solid block. Tea bricks could be made into beverages or eaten as food, and their hardy nature and multiplicity of use saw them traded and used as a form of currency in China, Tibet and Central Asia. The nomads of Siberia and Mongolia used brick tea as currency until World War II. Brick tea was the most commonly produced and used form of tea in ancient China prior to the Ming dynasty (1644-1911) and while tea bricks are less commonly produced in modern times, some teas such as puerh (aged and fermented tea) are still commonly found in pressed form.

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Summary

Object Statement

Tea brick, made by the Zhao Liqiao Tea Brick Factory, China, 1912-1920

Physical Description

Tea brick, made by the Zhao Liqiao Tea Brick Factory, China, 1912-1920 Dark brown rectangular flat block or tablet compressed with relief designs of Nationalist (post 1911) stars, and celebratory architectural structure known as a 'pailou' flanked by vegetation with Chinese text below: Zhongguo Cha ye gongso (China Tea Company) / Zhao Liqiao zhuan cha chang zhizao (Made by Zhao Liqiao Tea Brick Factory).

DIMENSIONS

Width

180 mm

Depth

23 mm

PRODUCTION

Notes

Zhongguo Cha ye gongso (China Tea Company) / Zhao Liqiao zhuan cha chang zhizao (Made by Zhao Liqiao Tea Brick Factory). It was made 1912-1920.

HISTORY

Notes

Bought by the donor in an antique shop in Paddington, Sydney, around 1990.

SOURCE

Credit Line

Gift of Narelle Jubelin, 2007

Acquisition Date

22 January 2007

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