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Museum Hours
Thu: 1 PM–8 PM
Fri–Mon: 10 AM–5 PM
Tue–Wed: Closed
Location
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.581.3500
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Artwork

Hexagonal kettle (kama), approx. 1500–1700

This iron kettle is used to heat water for making tea. Its unusual hexagonal shape bears a design of an ancient Chinese legend. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove were a group of Taoist scholars and musicians in the third century who gathered together in a bamboo forest. In this natural setting, away from the constraints of politics and society, they were able to drink and converse freely without concern for worldly matters.