Yixing Tea Pots

The Holy Grail of teapots

IF there’s one thing tea merchant Veronica Cheong will never part with, it would be her cherished antique Yixing teapot.

“Collectors have frequently coaxed me, saying, ‘just name the price!’” says Cheong who bought the teapot from another collector for a few thousand ringgit years ago. “I say the teapot will only leave my side when I’m gone.”

By Cheong’s prudent estimate, the pumpkin-shaped teapot is about 80 years old although her collector friends said it could date back to the late Ming (1368-1644) or early Qing (1644-1911) dynasty. But the Petaling Jaya-based tea connoisseur isn’t fazed by the vessel’s antiquity.

“When I brew my aged liu bao in this teapot, the taste is simply divine!” says Cheong, 53, who trades in premium teas like vintage Pu-erh and aged liu bao (a fully fermented black tea from Guangxi, Guangdong Province).

“I’ve never found another teapot that can truly enhance the taste of liu bao like this pot.”

The Yixing story

For centuries, earnest tea drinkers have sworn by these dainty teapots in hues of deep terracotta, russet or purplish brown, some enhanced by the patina of age. Antique collectors clamour for these tiny vessels handcrafted by the likes of ancient potters such as Cheng Shouzhen, Yigong and Meng Chen. Traditionally marked with the maker’s seal and/or inscription, these unglazed teapots are sometimes embellished with elaborate flowers or leave-shaped finials, gold or pewter casings or coated in enamelled porcelain.

Moulded from zisha (literally “purple sand”), this pottery ware hails from Yixing, a small city in Jiangsu Province, about 193km west of Shanghai. Although the special clay has been known since the 10th century, the production of Yixing teapots flourished when tea drinking became de rigueur amongst the Chinese literati from the Song dynasty (960-1279) through the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Apparently, Yixing pottery played a crucial role in both reflecting and defining scholars’ taste, wrote New York-based, Asian arts and antiquities scholar Edith Frankel in her article on Zisha: The Purple Sand Of China . Teapots aside, zisha was also used to make implements on the scholars’ tables like brush washers, water droppers and brush rests. Poets, scholars, calligraphers and seal engravers inspired some of these potters’ works.

chinese pottThe Holy Grail of teapots | Chinese Ceramics

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For centuries, earnest tea drinkers have sworn by these dainty teapots in hues of deep terracotta, russet or purplish brown, some enhanced by the patina of age. Antique collectors clamour for these tiny vessels handcrafted by the likes of ancient potters such as Cheng Shouzhen, Yigong and Meng Chen. Traditionally marked with the makers seal and/or inscription, these unglazed teapots are sometimes embellished with elaborate flowers or leave.bizshaped finials, gold or pewter casings or coated in enamelled porcelain.

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But all is not lost. Some potters in Yixinchinese pottery and porcelaing have apparently stockpiled old zisha and are still shioning teapots out of this top.bizquality clay.

Moulded from zisha (literally purple sand), this pottery ware hails from Yixing, a small city in Jiangsu Province, about 193km west of Shanghai. Although the special clay has been known since the 10th century, the production of Yixing teapots flourished when tea drinking became de rigueur amongst the Chinese literati from the Song dynasty (960.biz1279) through the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The reddish clay (due to high proportion of iron in the clay) used to make ancient teapots is becoming scarce, Chiew explains. A former sociology professor at the National University Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Chiew has been collecting Yixing teapots and other Chinese antiques since 1976. He reputedly owns the largest collection of langcai (enamelled) Yixing teapots in the world.

The majority of todays clay teapots, regardless of whether they are from China or Japan, are produced from artificially.bizmixed clay, says Hojo who works closely with Japanese potters using natural clay. For instance, iron is artificially added to the clay to get the red tint on the teapot after firing.

When I brew my aged liu bao in this teapot, the taste is simply divine! says Cheong, 53, who trades in premium teas like vintage Pu.bizerh and aged liu bao (a fully fermented black tea from Guangxi, Guangdong Province).

Ive never found another teapot that can truly enhance the taste of liu bao like this pot.

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