What do you think of this zhuni pot?

[chrl42]

Speaking of paintings, what's the deal with pots like this one? This seller seems to have a lot of these pots that have this yellow "art" on the sides. It looks like it was done with a tube of epoxy (almost like icing on a cake).

Is this practice common? Any idea if these pots are being done in one studio like this? Or is somebody else taking plain pots and adding art...?

Not too common, they had color-glazed, pewter-ornamented or clay-painted Yixings, back then. But those epoxy(as you described)-like ones were not common.

[Drax]

Hrm, so is it more likely a modern addition (or modern pot), rather than the claimed 1900-1960?

[chrl42]

Hrm, so is it more likely a modern addition (or modern pot), rather than the claimed 1900-1960?

I don't think 5000-friend has any pots that has a correct date credited.

[TIM]

Hrm, so is it more likely a modern addition (or modern pot), rather than the claimed 1900-1960?

Yup, it's a 2nd hand bootleg iPad from the Qing Dynasty.

[Drax]

Hrm, so is it more likely a modern addition (or modern pot), rather than the claimed 1900-1960?

Yup, it's a 2nd hand bootleg iPad from the Qing Dynasty.

I assume all those age claims are phony. Mostly I was curious if that style of art was done at *all* in earlier times, or if it's purely modern.

[MarshalN]

The yellow is supposed to be a clay paint, but in this case, the colour is too intense... the yellow ones I've seen that might be real tend to be lighter and thinner, looks almost like watercolour.

[bagua7]

Sweet lord, can't believe all that fuss over that ugly pot. It was just an example.

OK, then try any of the hong nis sold at <i>zen8tea</i>.

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They seem and are probably a lot better; I think TJK owns some of those so she would be able to provide more accurate details. I like those pots a lot but they are a tad too big for the particular oolongs I brew with porcelain-like Yixing clay.

[ImmortaliTEA]

Sweet lord, can't believe all that fuss over that ugly pot. It was just an example.

OK, then try any of the hong nis sold at <i>zen8tea</i>.

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They seem and are probably a lot better; I think TJK owns some of those so he can provide more accurate details. I like those pots a lot but they are a tad too big for the particular oolongs I brew with porcelain-like Yixing clay.

I was just looking through those links you included and it made me curious to ask a few questions to anyone who might be able to help. First, you said that these pots are "too big for the particular oolongs I brew with PORCELAIN-LIKE yixing clay". I'm not exactly sure what you meant by that. Are you talking about clays like Zhu Ni that are "porcelain like" in terms of less porosity or something else? Because if you were then why would you include Hong Ni in that classification? All of the examples of Hong Ni that I have tried are very porous and season extremely quickly so I was wondering what you meant by that? Also, in the second linked Hong Ni pot there are many small yellow specks in the clay. This is a source of great confusion for me. Please can someone with yixing knowledge help me understand exactly which red clay/s have yellow specks in the clay? Is it Hong Ni or genuine Zhu Ni because knowing this can help me a great deal. Thanks and sorry for the long post!

ImmortaliTEA-

[Maxwell2079]

I think I read somewhere (don't remember where) that the yellow specks maybe due to duan ni mixed with the clay. But my knowledge is very limited so I may understood it the wrong way or the source might be incorrect. Hopefully Marshaln,Tim or Charly can help us out.

[bagua7]

I was referring to the new zhu ni pots I got, hard like quartz crystals and near zero porosity (not a Chemist or Physicist so I might be wrong!).

I use these pots to brew Taiwan and Wuyi oolongs.

[MarshalN]

I'm pretty sure they are not duanni, but rather sand/crystal of some sort.

[Maxwell2079]

Thanks for clarifying Marshaln!

[ImmortaliTEA]

I'm pretty sure they are not duanni, but rather sand/crystal of some sort.

This sounds closer to what I was thinking, considering that most of the Zi Sha blended clays I have seen on here have the yellow specks so I figured the yellow specks could be the actual "sand", but if so does that mean that any type of clay can have them or is it usually one or the other between Zhu Ni or Hong Ni?

[Maxwell2079]

By the way guys,

I talked to the vendor informing that some knowledgeable friends of mine (that is you guys) told me that this zhuni wasn´t actually a zhuni but a hongni.

He told me that he was in doubt about this pot in fact and he removed it from his website. He said, that the seller assured him it was a zhuni and that it was med fired, he said he was going to double ckeck it. He also told me that the seasoned version looked like zhuni to his eyes and that he owned a similar pot that was zhuni and looked that the one he was selling.

However, looking a the pictures that ImmortaliTEA recently posted of hongni unseasoned and seasoned version of hongni pots. The difference is not so obvious at least to my untrained eyes. I mean the seasoned hongni version (from ImmortaliTEA) looks sort of zhuni too.

So, the seasoned and unseasoned version in his website indicates nothing to me.

All this said, I bought 2 pots from this site but obviously none of them is the "zhuni".
The vendor doesn´t sound like cheater nor trying to be misleading to me. Time will tell but so far so good.

With the pots I got he was very straightforward and inform me beforehand of the terrible craftsmanship that one of the pots had. But I wanted to have a hei ni so I bought it anyway. The other is much better. Price tells thats too. One was 60 and the other 110.

Thanks for your help again guys!

[ImmortaliTEA]

By the way guys,

I talked to the vendor informing that some knowledgeable friends of mine (that is you guys) told me that this zhuni wasn´t actually a zhuni but a hongni.

He told me that he was in doubt about this pot in fact and he removed it from his website. He said, that the seller assured him it was a zhuni and that it was med fired, he said he was going to double ckeck it. He also told me that the seasoned version looked like zhuni to his eyes and that he owned a similar pot that was zhuni and looked that the one he was selling.

However, looking a the pictures that ImmortaliTEA recently posted of hongni unseasoned and seasoned version of hongni pots. The difference is not so obvious at least to my untrained eyes. I mean the seasoned hongni version (from ImmortaliTEA) looks sort of zhuni too.

So, the seasoned and unseasoned version in his website indicates nothing to me.

All this said, I bought 2 pots from this site but obviously none of them is the "zhuni".
The vendor doesn´t sound like cheater nor trying to be misleading to me. Time will tell but so far so good.

With the pots I got he was very straightforward and inform me beforehand of the terrible craftsmanship that one of the pots had. But I wanted to have a hei ni so I bought it anyway. The other is much better. Price tells thats too. One was 60 and the other 110.

Thanks for your help again guys!

The pot in question is definitely not Hong Ni. I bought it just because I am a fan of the general's helmet style lid and wanted to see why it was so much more expensive (also wanted to compare it to my Hong Ni teapots to see the difference). This pot has some of the best craftsmanship of all of my pots (with the exception of a "slightly" loose lid fit, which I am used to after using 70's and 80's pots) and pours like a true Napoleon canon. It does seem a little visibly porous, but does little to no rounding and in fact performs exactly the way a Zhu Ni is supposed to (which in my experience means porcelain like with added heat from the clay). Also, it is seasoning very quickly and can tell just from the small amount of accumulated tea oils that it will shine like a genuine Zhu Ni (just like it does in the vendor picture). So my point here is that while this clay may not be Zhaozhuang Zhu Ni from back in the day, it certainly isn't Hong Ni (or at least not any kind of Hong Ni I have seen) so perhaps it is genuine ZZ Zhu Ni or some other kind but it brews amazing tea and that is what matters to me!