Chen Yu Lan: Reverse Handle Concubine

Chen Yu Lan

Chen Yu Lan

Born to a traditional Yixing teapot artisan family, Chen Yu Lan entered the career of Yixing teapot making immediately after high school in 1983. For the family’s connection with the trade, and word of mouth of her diligence and talents, she was later able to apprentice with the most renowned artist of the time, Lu Xiao-chen 呂曉臣. This decade long experience has been instrumental for her to develop her own network of materials and technical supports, and more importantly, her own style of aesthetics and mastery.

Because of the long apprenticeship history with Lu, Chen is well known for her decorated teapots. Her plainer works, in our opinion, are much better value, especially if you want it not only for collection purposes, but also an utilitarian one.

Notice how the spout curved out from the pot body a lot more organically than the classic form style, such as that one by Liu Hai Tao, or another very elegantly reinterpreted one using an even finer clay by Fan Xi Ming. Observe also that the opening of the pot body is very slightly slanting upwards toward the spout rather than level as in the classic style.

Chen Yu Lan’s Dao-ba Xishi

This Reverse Handle Concubine, aka Dao-ba Xishi, is relatively larger than usual for this particular form style, which we think is quite useful for certain applications. It works for us well for slightly longer or long infusion approaches. Chen has made a few subtle adaptations that are very meaningful ergonomically: the spout is made with a more gradual curve from the pot belly, while protruding a little bit more upward than the classic form style. The level of the pot opening is very slightly slanting up towards the spout, minimising initial slippage when decanting. In the world of Yixing teapot, such non-conformity against the traditional form style takes a little courage to stand firm in the possible criticism by the peers and reviewers. We think this is admirable. By the way, using a Da Hong Pao to make a round smooth form to this size with such precision is a technical wonder in itself.

Packing: Tea towel pull bag in collector’s case

All Yixing teapots at Tea Hong are delivered with a pull-string towel sack in a collector box with cushions inside.

Note:

Unless otherwise stated, all Yixing teapots are new from the kiln. Please properly clean and prepare them before making tea in them. There is a proper procedure to do that. It is described at:
Yixing Teapots, An Introduction | Tea Guardian

We try our best to represent the colours of all tea accessories, including Yixing teapots in the product photographs. However, there are many factors that we cannot control, including those that affect how the photos are rendered in your computer or mobile device. There maybe interpreted discrepancies between the colour as seen on this site and that of the product you receive.

Please also note that since all our Yixing teapots are handmade, in the situation when there are more than one copy available for an item, small details, such as the capacity, a particular curve, or certain detail proportions, etc may have slight variation.