Pheasant Tea Tray

Cloaked in lacquer and finely painted, this tea tray would have been a family's favored serving tray. While the flowers and vines are the immediate stand outs, a closer look reveals a pheasant, subtly picked out of the lacquer, perched atop a stem. Pheasants represented nobility and refinement, the perfect bird to accompany the rituals surrounding tea in traditional Chinese culture.