Tea and the Margaret Williamson Collection
MAA looks after at least 280 objects from Tibet and its surrounding Himalayan states, and 6,000 photographs donated by Margaret Williamson. But who was she and how did she acquire these objects?
25 April 2023
Lady Schuster’s Tibetan Tea
A collection was donated to MAA in 1947 by a Lady Schuster. But nothing is known about her nor the contexts in which her collection of tea objects was assembled. Who was she?
11 April 2023
Dragons, Monk’s Caps, and Butter Tea: The Duomuhu
What can drinking vessels tell us about historical changes and relationships? I explore the trajectory of one such vessel, a 多穆壶 (duomuhu), and what it tells us about the politics of the Chinese Empire.
7 March 2023
The Tea Horse Road: An Ancient Trade Route
Michael Freeman, photographer and author of the ‘Tea Horse Road: China’s Ancient Trade Road to Tibet’, explores the pressed tea bricks in MAA’s care and the longest trade route in the ancient world.
7 February 2023
A Tea Brick Destined for Tibet
Ever tried to guess the flavour of tea just from looking at leaves or bricks, and without brewing them? Or even just from photographs of them? Come explore one example from the collections at MAA with me.
6 December 2022
