Selecting a Yixing teapot
In addition to clay quality and subjective aesthetics, there are other basic utilitarian criteria in selecting a Yixing teapot. Sometimes this tea infusion vessel is also known as zisha or purple clay teapot. They are generic names for smaller size specialist teapots made from the clay from the special mines in and around the small county of Yixing in Jiangsu province, China. Zisha or purple clay is one of the several types of clay that in the beginning made teapots from this region famous.
In this video, we look at the basic ergonomics of Yixing teapots. It covers the techniques in holding and manoeuvring the small instrument smoothly for pouring, perhaps the most difficult part in the use of this specialist piece of tea ware. Acquiring this basic set of skills is instrumental in selecting a better teapot.
While to the untrained eyes and hands, all the differences between such pots are just the look, for the connoisseur, it can mean master tea making or total failure. A pot that cannot be handled well is meaningless for specialist tea infusion, regardless of the clay material or the decoration that is applied on it.
I have concluded the many styles of better pot handling techniques through decades of observation and practice to summarise in the sets in this demonstration. As far as we know, this is the first published content of such various practical techniques, on the internet or in print, or any other form of media. If you are beginning to see similar content elsewhere, we have been successful in inspiring the development of more such experience sharing.
- More…
- Yixing Teapots: The Clays
- Handcrafting Yixing Teapots
- Standard Traditional Forms
- Yixing Teapots: Artist Ranking
