User avatar
Jul 9th, '13, 09:59
Posts: 5
Joined: Jul 6th, '13, 18:00
Location: Lemberg, Ukraine

Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by tealeaves » Jul 9th, '13, 09:59

Greetings!

Just as I've stated in the topic name: what are the classic shapes of Yixing teapots? It would be great to have the names of those in hanzi too, since it'll be easier to find more info.

Thanks in advance.

User avatar
Jul 9th, '13, 19:27
Posts: 1592
Joined: Jul 21st, '10, 02:25
Location: Earth
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by bagua7 » Jul 9th, '13, 19:27


User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 02:12
Posts: 5
Joined: Jul 6th, '13, 18:00
Location: Lemberg, Ukraine

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by tealeaves » Jul 10th, '13, 02:12

Thanks. It would be great to have those shapes in hanzi though, since it is hard for me to translate the pinyin names without accents. Could somebody help?

User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 12:21
Posts: 2044
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 20:47
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by wyardley » Jul 10th, '13, 12:21

Simplified characters in parens where needed. Let me know if there are any wrong tones, translations that should be improved, wrong characters, etc. I'll try to add some more shapes later when I get a chance.

水平 shuǐ píng (water level)
德鐘 (德钟) dé zhōng
掇球 duō qiú (ball-drop)
仿古 fǎng gǔ (pseudo-classical; ancient-style)
君德 jūn dé (first name of Zhang Junde [per gingko's comment])
六方 liù fāng (hexagonal)
梨形 lí xíng (pear-shaped)
思亭 (sī tíng) (specific style of pear-shaped pot, name comes from its inscription '思亭')
肉扁 ròu bǐan
石瓢 shì piáo (stone dipper)
太監 (太监) tài jiān (court eunuch)
文旦 wén dàn (pomelo)
芭樂 (芭乐) bā lè (guava)
線瓢 (线瓢) xiàn piáo (similar shape to above)
西施 xī shī (breast-shaped pot named after a famous beauty)
You can also try searching at http://babelcarp.org for some of these, and take a look at this post about the 'wuxing' shapes
http://houdeblog.com/oldblog/index.php? ... 221-151835
Last edited by wyardley on Jul 11th, '13, 00:58, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 14:33
Posts: 5
Joined: Jul 6th, '13, 18:00
Location: Lemberg, Ukraine

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by tealeaves » Jul 10th, '13, 14:33

Thank you very much. Great work!

User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 21:39
Posts: 852
Joined: Mar 4th, '10, 22:07
Location: somewhere over the rainbow

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by Poohblah » Jul 10th, '13, 21:39

I would like to add one to the list:

西施 - xī shī, named for a beautiful Chinese woman, kind of a Helen of Troy to the Chinese [wiki]

Also, 君德 jūn dé translates to "gentlemanly virtue".

User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 23:26
Posts: 2044
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 20:47
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by wyardley » Jul 10th, '13, 23:26

Poohblah wrote: 西施 - xī shī, named for a beautiful Chinese woman, kind of a Helen of Troy to the Chinese [wiki]

Also, 君德 jūn dé translates to "gentlemanly virtue".
Not sure how I missed xishi - thought it was on the original list. Also updated the translation for jun de - wasn't really sure how to render that. Updated both above.

Would be great to put this in table form, sorted by types of shape, and with illustrations. I'll see if I can scan some drawings of shapes from one of my teapot books.

User avatar
Jul 10th, '13, 23:55
Vendor Member
Posts: 2084
Joined: Sep 24th, '08, 18:38
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by gingkoseto » Jul 10th, '13, 23:55

tai jian is not a classic name, but rather an informal, half-jokingly name (and you could tell from the translation) :P
If you see such a style from somebody, it's a good idea not to call it by this name, just to be conservative :mrgreen:
The name is from a teapot from a tai jian's tomb, but then has been used for some other different styles too, informally.

jun de is the first name of Zhang Junde, the inventor of the style. As reflected by the translation, it's a good name :D

User avatar
Jul 11th, '13, 05:17
Posts: 5
Joined: Jul 6th, '13, 18:00
Location: Lemberg, Ukraine

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by tealeaves » Jul 11th, '13, 05:17

wyardley wrote: Would be great to put this in table form, sorted by types of shape, and with illustrations. I'll see if I can scan some drawings of shapes from one of my teapot books.
Great idea. Just go on with the info and drawings, and I will do the organisation part.

Mar 7th, '17, 13:15
Posts: 5
Joined: Jan 18th, '17, 08:58

Re: Classic shapes of Yixing teapots

by oogamooga » Mar 7th, '17, 13:15

tealeaves wrote:
wyardley wrote: Would be great to put this in table form, sorted by types of shape, and with illustrations. I'll see if I can scan some drawings of shapes from one of my teapot books.
Great idea. Just go on with the info and drawings, and I will do the organisation part.
Resuscitating an old post. Did anything ever come of this? I've been working my way backwards through the archives and don't think I ran across anything.

+ Post Reply