Adamantina in The Story Of the Stone and her Tea Cups
In Chapter 41, Grandmother Jia leads Grannie Liu into Green Bower Heritage, and Adamantina treats them with tea. The exquisite and valuable tea cups, probably antiques, reveal Adamantina’s refined taste of tea and lavish lifestyle for an extremely artistic sake. Her refined taste reminds the reader that she “comes of a highly educated official family from Soochow” (351, v1.) and “she’s said to be a great clerk and knows all the classics by heart” (351, v1.). Therefore, her erudition and refinement can compete with Baochai and Daiyu. Actually, she appears more like a shadow of Daiyu. They, two germaphobes, both share the name Jade(玉), come from Soochow, possess literary talents and enjoy an artistic lifestyle. Also in Chapter 76, the missing of one cup leads to the meeting of Daiyu and Adamantina in front of the Concave Pavilion.
It is possible that Cao Xueqin exaggerates the value and delicacy of those tea cups just as he depicts Qin-shi’s luxurious and sexual decorations of her bedroom. Exaggerated descriptions of tea cups suggest Adamantina's abnormal infatuation with unnecessary secular objects, a material pursuit against the basic norms of a genuine nun. Considering the crippled Taoist and scabbed-head monk, real monks look rather foolish, crazy and ungainly. They disregard external appearance but only focus on internal epiphany, a total detachment from mundane forms. In contrast to these unruly monks, Adamantina seems to be a fake nun—an “unshaved nun” (351, v1.) who does not resolutely cut off her relation with the red dust as she does not cut her hair. She pretends to be a puritan who despises worldly triviality, filthiness and uncouthness, but her over-awareness of material perfection and deliberate elusiveness of contamination betray her excessive concern for outside forms and close bonds with mundane world. A real nun will not care about the quality of the cups, water and tea, but merely drinks tea for drinking as part of normal routine. Besides, her detestation of Grannie Liu contaminating her cup shows that she does not harbor a merciful and charitable heart for everyone, especially the old and the poor, as a real nun. The contrast between fake nun and real monk reiterates the significant binary of the book—“fake” and “true”—and resonates with the statement—“truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true” (130, v1.).
Besides her strong bonds with the secular world, Adamantina even possesses strong desire and passion beneath her eccentrically puritan appearance. Her willful selection of different cups for different people signals her special concern or affection for Baoyu. She gives Grandmother Jia “a little cinque-lobed lacquer tea-tray decorated with a gold-infilled engraving of a cloud dragon coiled round the character for ‘longevity’” (312, v2.) with “a little covered teacup of Cheng Hua enamelled porcelain” (312, v2.). “Gold-infilled engraving of a cloud dragon” (312, v2.) accords with Grandmother Jia’s distinguished and powerful position in the family; auspicious inscription of “longevity” (312, v2.) expresses Adamantina’s indirect blessing for Grandmother Jia’s well-being. The rareness of “Cheng Hua enamelled porcelain” (312, v2.) implicitly reflects Adamantina’s reverence and attention for Grandmother Jia. However, this priceless cup ends up in Grannie Liu’s hands, which appears disharmonious with Grannie Liu’s social status and taste. Based my personal guess, possession of an invaluable cup in an ordinary family might lead to some ominous incidents for Jia family if others trace the origin of the cup.
For the rest two ladies, Adamantina picks a more delicate one for Baochai—a “pumpkin Cup carved in li-shu characters on one side and Wang Kai his Treasure in little autograph characters on the back, followed by another column of tiny characters: Examined by Su Dong-po in the Inner Treasury/Fourth month Yuan-feng era anno 5” (313, v2.). Baochai’s cup formerly belongs to a wealthy aristocrat and later goes to literary giant Su Dongpo. The renowned lineage of collectors shows Adamantina’s recognition of Baochai’s capability and temperament. On the contrary, Daiyu’s cup—“a miniature begging-bowl inscribed with the words The Horn Link Goblet in a ‘pearl-drop’ seal script” (312, v2.)—seems inferior and commonplace. Adamantina's pick for Daiyu is not an intentional humiliation, but a self-protective alienation as a rival in love. Since they mirror each other, Adamantina also has a feeling for Baoyu, but she pretends that she treats Baoyu politely in the name of the two ladies. “She poured tea for Baoyu in the green jade mug that she normally drank from herself” (313, v2.). With extreme inclination of cleanness, Adamantina unbelievably allows Baoyu to use her own mug, such an intimacy that is not only an honor for Baoyu, but also her complete acceptance and trust of Baoyu. She even sends a blessing card on Baoyu’s birthday. From the title of Chapter 41—“Jia Bao-yu tastes some superior tea at Green Bower Hermitage”, it points out that among all the guests, Baoyu is the real guest for tea and for Adamantina.
