The exhibition has been organized by the State Hermitage with the participation of the State Museum of Oriental Art, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Peterhof State Museum-Preserve, Pavlovsk Museum-Preserve, State Museum of the History of Religion, and the collection of Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova.

The properties of the unique Yixing clays made it possible to create items associated with the tea-drinking practice that emerged in China in the 16th century, when tea leaves were infused in boiling water. These were teapots and lidded cups that retained the heat and aroma of tea for a long time, and they immediately became popular in China and beyond. The same clays were also used to make objects for the scholar's desk, small sculptures, flower vessels, snuff bottles, incense containers and other items.

The exhibition at the Hermitage presents examples of ceramics primarily associated with tea culture, showcasing the characteristics of Yixing clays and the possibilities that they offer potters in the manufacture and decoration of wares. At the same time, the display tells the story of how these objects entered museum collections and about the collectors involved. Many of the exhibits are being shown and published for the first time.

The display comprises over 90 objects – teapots, miniature cups, tea caddies, vessels, flasks, vases and others – demonstrating the variety of forms and decorative techniques employed over several centuries.

It is believed that the first examples of Yixing ceramics were brought to Russia by Peter the Great. Among them are the teapots from the Peter the Great collection of the Peterhof State Museum-Preserve displayed in the hall. The Hermitage possesses a diverse collection of Yixing ware, dating from the early 18th century through to the 1980s. Among the early examples from the museum's collection on display are a teapot decorated with a boy holding a lotus flower among plant branches and a hexagonal teapot with a lid topped with a small knob (late 17th – early 18th century). Also of interest are: a group of small Yixing cups (3-5 cm in height) from the Hermitage collection (unlike teapots, these items were not as well esteemed and are much rarer outside China), and an elegantly shaped brush washer in the form of a peach (18th century) – an article made for a scholar's desk.

The 18th-century objects demonstrate an expansion in the range of forms and decorative techniques employed, as well as a diversity of subject matter. One example is a teapot, whose shape derives from Tibetan metalwork, decorated with slip (liquid ceramic clay) painting depicting stylized dragons and the shou character for longevity, from the Hermitage collection, another is a previously unpublished miniature "tilting" vessel – a water dropper or wine vessel(?) from the Kunstkamera.

Particularly noteworthy are two teapots with polychrome painting depicting landscapes from the State Museum of Oriental Art.

The display also features seven teapots from the collection of Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova made by Yixing craftspeople, the latest dating from the early 21st century.

The exhibition has been prepared by the State Hermitage’s Oriental Department (headed by Natalia Kozlova). The exhibition curators are Tatiana Borisovna Arapova, Candidate of Art History, Leading Researcher, and Lidia Viktorovna Potochkina, Senior Researcher.

The exhibition is accompanied by a scholarly, illustrated catalogue, Keramika Isina v sobraniiakh Peterburga i Moskvy. XVII – vtoraia polovina XX veka {"Yixing Ceramics in the Collections of St Petersburg and Moscow. Seventeenth – Late Twentieth Centuries"] (State Hermitage Publishers, 2026). The curator, author of the concept and scholarly editor of the catalogue is Tatiana Borisovna Arapova.

The authors of the introductory texts are Tatiana Arapova (Hermitage) – "Foreword"; Tatiana Arapova (Hermitage), Svetlana. Klapina (Peterhof Museum-Preserve), Maria Kormanovskaya (Museum of the History of Religion), Polina Rud (Kunstkamera) and Lidia Shmotikova (Museum of Oriental Art) – "The History of Acquisitions and Collectors".

(The exhibition can be visited by all holders of tickets to the Main Museum Complex)