Marino Sheep Tea Pet

A very round sheep about the size of a walnut, mostly fleece with a small worried face. It's a tea pet (茶宠, cha chong): a little clay figure that keeps you company on the tea tray and gets "fed" with leftover tea. Each time you brew, pour a little spent tea over it. The bare clay drinks it in, and over many tea sessions the surface slowly takes on the colour of your tea; the paler sheep show it soonest. Or keep it dry and let it sit there looking mildly concerned. Both are respectable ways to keep a sheep. Each one is pinched by hand in Jingdezhen from plain pottery clay, with no glaze and no paint. The colour is the clay itself, in white, sandy khaki or chocolate brown, and the fleece is scratched into the wet clay line by line before firing. The googly eyes go on one at a time, so every sheep comes out with its own expression. Ours have been leaning worried. Details Size: about 3.5 × 3.5 cm Material: unglazed pottery clay, hand-pinched Colours: white, sandy khaki or chocolate brown, picked at random when we pack your order Handmade: shape, fleece and expression vary piece to piece, so the photos are a guide rather than the exact sheep you'll receive Care: rinse or pour tea over it and let it air dry. No soap. Related Tea Pet collection