Understanding the tea space in ancient Chinese paintings with the aid of artificial intelligence

Tea spaces serve as the material embodiment of Chinese tea culture, yet quantitative research on tea spaces depicted in ancient paintings remains insufficient. This study examined 207 ancient paintings spanning the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, employing K-means colour clustering, shape index analysis, and random forest methods. Findings reveal: (1) Regarding colour characteristics: the mean colour dominance index ranged between 1.39 and 1.50; (2) Complexity: Song dynasty tea wares exhibited the highest complexity, followed by Tang and Yuan, with Ming and Qing the lowest; (3) Service intensity: Qing and Song tea spaces showed higher service intensity, followed by Yuan and Ming, with Tang the lowest; (4) Influencing factors: wars and flooding negatively affected tea space proportion and tea wares complexity. This study provides new insights into the development of Chinese tea culture.