Ancient rich and noble families paid attention to gourmet utensils. This point was played to the extreme in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
The silk white agate dish used to hold lychees, the black silver plum blossom self-pouring pot and the begonia frozen stone banana leaf cup used by Daiyu when drinking, as well as the silver mold specially used to make "knotty soup" and carved into plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, lotus puffs, diamond horns and other patterns, the small silk boxes used to send things to Shi Xiangyun, the countless glass bowls and agate cups that were broken in the Yihong Courtyard, the boxwood cups used by Wang Xifeng and Mandarin Duck to fill Liu Grandma's drinking, and the forty small tea plates of the white powder kiln used during the "Shouyi Red Qunfang Night Feast", all of which were extremely exquisite , breathtaking.
In fact, no matter how exquisite the utensils in Jia Fu were, they were still defeated by Miao Yu in the end. This little nun who lived in Jia Fu made an official appearance once, and completely crushed the entire Jia House with a few cups. And Cao Xueqin also used a few cups in Miao Yu's hand to divide the people in Jia Fu into three, six, nine and so on.
Only to see Miao Yu personally holding a small tea tray with begonia fancy, carved lacquer filled with gold, and Yunlong offering life, which contained a kiln multicolored small lid bell, holding jia mu.
This is the first cup that appeared in Li Cui'an, because it was given to Jia Mu for drinking tea, and this kiln multicolored small cover clock is also very precious, which is an extremely rare antique. The cup that Miao Yu gave to others to drink tea was "a white lid bowl that was born from a one-color official kiln".
Jia Mu's multicolored small lid bell for drinking tea, and the official kiln used by everyone to drink tea were born to fill the white lid bowl, which opened the grade and gave Jia Mu the meaning of being on the top. However, with the development of the storyline, we can't help but find that this kiln multicolored small cover clock is nothing compared to the other cups in the Miaoyu room.
When Jia Mu and the others were drinking tea in the courtyard of Li Cui'an, Miao Yu quietly pulled Bao Chao and Dai Yu and asked them to follow them to the room to eat "body tea". At this time, Miao Yu took out two more cups——
One has an ear next to it, and the cup is engraved with three subordinate characters of "(divided) 瓟斝", followed by a line of small real characters, which is "Jin Wang Kai Zhen Play", and there is a line of small characters "Song Yuanfeng Five Years April Meishan Su Shi Seen in the Secret House".
This precious cup was poured by Miao Yu with a cup of tea and handed to Xue Baochao. Wang Kai was a rich man in the Jin Dynasty and the emperor's uncle, famous for once fighting with Shi Chongfu. Such precious antiques fell into the hands of Miao Yu, and were used to pour tea for Xue Baochao, which shows that Miao Yu attaches great importance to Xue Baochao.
The one was shaped like a bowl and was small, and there were also three beaded seal characters, engraved with "apricot rhinoceros qiao", and Miao Yu poured a cup and handed it to Daiyu.
Miao Yu and Dai Yu, in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is also a mutual mapping relationship, some readers think that Miao Yu is the Dai Yu who left home, dai Yu is the Miao Yu at home, which is actually not bad at all. At this time, Miao Yu used a cup that resembled a bowl to pour tea for Dai Yu, and the meaning of it was self-evident.
The cup that Miao Yu poured tea for Jia Baoyu was his usual green jade bucket. Jia Baoyu immediately protested, saying that he was a "common thing", and Miao Yu found a sea of nine curves and ten rings and one hundred and twenty knots of bamboo roots to pour tea for Bao Yu.
At this time, the six (kinds) cups have all revealed their true faces. From the multicolored small lid bell used by Jia Mu, to the official kiln used by everyone to fill the white lid bowl, to the precious antiques used by Daiyu and Baochao, as well as the green jade bucket used by Miaoyu and the bamboo root carved sea used by Jia Baoyu. Through these six (kinds) cups, Cao Xueqin divided the characters in "Dream of the Red Chamber" into three, six, nine and so on.
The most elegant of course is Xue Baochao and Lin Daiyu, only they are worthy of such a treasure; followed by Miaoyu's green jade bucket, which in ancient times had the saying that "gentlemen are gentle as jade", this green jade bucket also vaguely associated Miaoyu and Daiyu; and then Jia Baoyu's bamboo root carving of the sea, which is also extremely elegant.
As the old ancestor of Jia Province, Jia Mu is superficially honorable, but in this work on the theme of daughters, she is not the most elegant person, and the official kiln is born to fill the white lid bowl, which classifies everyone else into one category.
The six (kinds) cups were given a certain deep meaning by Cao Xueqin, and the many characters he wrote were divided into different levels.