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Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 2nd, '13, 05:59
by doktor_glas
Hi,

To start with I just want to say that I know next to nothing about chinese teaware. However i recently came across this clay teapot as part of a box of stuff I won at an auction.

Can anyone here help me with identification? Where is it made? When? What kind of clay was used?

There is a poem on the side and a lion with a ball on the lid.

There is a stamp underneath the teapot (the blurry picture) that a Chinese person said meant medium-sized lion ball, which probably refers to the modell.

There is also a carved stamp in the lid that is difficult to read. The first character could mean vermillion/cinnabar, a Japanese person told me. Maybe this refers to the clay used? Though the Chinese person that helped me with the stamp said it could be a name, perhaps a woman's name?

Could anyone here help me get some more information I would be really happy!

Best regards.
dr g

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Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 2nd, '13, 17:13
by wyardley
Yeah, given the context, I'd guess it's a name.
朱 is the family name Zhu (as well as being the zhu in zhuni). Hard to see the other characters even if my Chinese were better; maybe the third is 芳?

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 2nd, '13, 19:53
by doktor_glas
Yes, it's very worn so it's difficult to see.

Despite looking quite simple the teapot seems to be well made. The lid fits snugly in place, as I've understood is important.

The spout hole actually consists of several small concentric holes, like a sieve. This means the teapot is not too old, right?

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 7th, '13, 22:48
by MarshalN
This is a few decades old. The second seal is "Middle lion ball" literally, 中獅球. These were made, I believe, in the collectivized factory days.

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 8th, '13, 01:32
by bagua7
How big is it? Have you started using it already? Surely, if it was made in the early 70s, the clay used was good and probably it has aged well enough to brew excellent tea.

Enjoy (your unexpected pot?)! :)

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 8th, '13, 05:38
by doktor_glas
MarshalN wrote:This is a few decades old. The second seal is "Middle lion ball" literally, 中獅球. These were made, I believe, in the collectivized factory days.
What does that mean? Didn't they use a big seal stamp then, as I've seen on pictures of other teapots?
I've found out some more information from another forum, about the maker of the teapot (from the lid stamp)!

The signature in the lid supposedly says: 朱梅芬 which run in google translate gives Zhumei Fen. A chinese person who helped me read the lid stamp gave me this link to another teapot by the same maker: http://jd.cang.com/675872.html

I did some digging of my own after that and found a list of craftsmen working in "Yixing factory number one". The list was from an article dated 1998, and the translation was of an older list I believe. One of the craftsmen had the name Zhu Mei Fen.
Here is a link to the article: http://terebess.hu/english/yixing1a.html

Is this Yixing factory number one something that matches your "collective days" statement?

Thank you for the information, by the way!

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 8th, '13, 05:39
by doktor_glas
bagua7 wrote:How big is it? Have you started using it already? Surely, if it was made in the early 70s, the clay used was good and probably it has aged well enough to brew excellent tea.

Enjoy (your unexpected pot?)! :)
Thank you!

I'm not sure how big it is. It's not tiny, but it's not very big either. My guess is it has room for a couple of deciliters, maybe a bit more.

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 9th, '13, 00:24
by Teaism
This pot is standard production model commonly produced in 60s to 80s in various sizes. The workmanship and artist can vary quite significantly. I enjoy this type of pot as they are made of true Yixing clay and due to mass production, they are hand made or partly moulded. It is nice to see the hand craft workmanship on the pot and most exciting is the fluid calligraphy and carving of different motifs. This pot is a collector item now and command quite a good market price, easily US500-$1000 depending on era and artist.
I have probably a dozen of them and dug out these three pots from different era/size for sharing.
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Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 9th, '13, 06:31
by doktor_glas
Wow, that is quite a bit more than the ~$20 we paid for the box this was in.

Thank you for the information and the fine comparison pictures!

Re: Help identifying old clay teapot

Posted: Jul 9th, '13, 06:52
by Teaism
doktor_glas wrote:Wow, that is quite a bit more than the ~$20 we paid for the box this was in.

Thank you for the information and the fine comparison pictures!
2 sides of the coin, some fools buy and some fools sell and thankfully you are on the right side. Just for laughs, no offence. :D

Have a good day! Cheers!