[清本源 x Gohobi Gallery] Apple-Shaped Tea Tray with Inner-Impressed Rubbing Print and Kintsugi Detailing – “Lantern Festival Night” Design

This apple-shaped tea tray is a contemplative surface where narrative, time, and philosophical repair quietly unfold, transforming a functional object into a living carrier of cultural memory.

The imagery is drawn from Journey to the West, a story that advances not through flawlessness, but through the accumulation of imperfection on the road toward fulfilment. Tang Monk’s rigid sincerity, Sun Wukong’s unruly edge, and Pigsy’s worldly attachments are not obstacles to erase, but the source of the epic’s vitality. Ancient woodblock prints captured this spirit through sharp carving and dynamic tension, already carrying within them the pulse of life shaped by struggle.

Through rubbing techniques, the tea tray faithfully reveals the marks left by time on those prints. Knife cuts, softened contours, worn paper edges, and areas of loss are transferred without concealment. Kintsugi then enters as an act of honest response rather than correction. Gold does not disguise damage, but acknowledges it openly, allowing repair to stand visibly alongside age. In doing so, the piece moves beyond replication and becomes a renewed body that carries history forward with integrity.

In places where imagery fades or breaks, fine lines of gold reconnect visual flow, while broader areas of absence are left partially open, filled instead with textured gold that suggests light, atmosphere, and movement. What is missing becomes space for imagination. The tray does not insist on restoring what once was, but invites the viewer to complete the scene inwardly, turning loss into dialogue.

This approach embodies the guiding philosophy of “great completion through incompletion.” Rubbing and kintsugi act as translators of time, allowing the artwork to exist honestly in the present rather than returning to an illusory original perfection. The result is not an untouched relic, but a living surface marked by endurance, care, and transformation—much like the pilgrimage itself, where hardship deepens meaning rather than diminishing it.

The apple-shaped form offers gentle symmetry and grounded balance, providing a calm stage for teapots and cups. Its low profile allows vessels to rest securely, while the imagery beneath quietly supports the ritual of tea with reflection and depth.

Diameter: 16.9 cm
Height: 2.8 cm

The listed price is for one tea tray. Each piece is individually handcrafted, and variations in rubbing texture, gold application, and surface character are part of its unique identity. Customers are welcome to request a private video viewing for a closer look. Orders are shipped using reused or recycled packaging wherever possible.

A tea tray where light, fracture, and story converge—allowing classics to breathe anew, and reminding us that true wholeness grows not from perfection, but from time, care, and the courage to let traces remain.