Activity
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.