Apr 15th, '19, 21:19
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Joined: Apr 15th, '19, 21:04
by Kimwikorn » Apr 15th, '19, 21:19
Hi, I’m very new to the tea world.
My friend got me this teapot from a shop in HK called “Fook Ming Tong”. She said it’s a very reliable shop with good reputation.
Is this Yixing pot authentic? What tea should I use it with? Also, the potter is probably no one famous but if anyone can read his/her name for me, it’ll be a great fun thing to tell guests when serving!
Thank you so much!
Last edited by
Kimwikorn on Apr 16th, '19, 21:00, edited 1 time in total.
Jun 10th, '19, 19:59
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Joined: Jun 10th, '19, 00:36
by emomibsams » Jun 10th, '19, 19:59
thank you very much
if anybody knew something about the city or region and the maker please tell me
Jun 30th, '19, 08:27
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Joined: Jun 30th, '19, 08:04
by sinensis.sinensis » Jun 30th, '19, 08:27
Hey!! I'll tell you as much as I can, but I cannot by any means say for sure if it is authentic. Also
please correct me if anyone more knowledgeable comes around. The shape of the teapot is called Xi Shi, named after one of the four renowned beauty of ancient china. For this reason the curves are very round and feminine. The shape is a bit off from other Xi Shi I've seen, the knob appears a bit large and the handle is a bit chunkier than I typically see. If the yixing clay is real, it is likely zisha (also called zini) clay. This translates to purple sand. It comes from a dark purple ore mined in one of the three authentic mountains in Yixing China (Yellow Dragon Mountain, Blue-Green Dragon Mountain, and I forget the other one). There are many different philosophies regarding which teas to pair with zisha. Imo, the clay tends to mitigate and 'clean-up' teas, so I usually put it with teas that need some refining (Shou puerh, highly roasted oolong, maybe some intense sheng puerh). Many will disagree with this though. As far as the carving, I can't read chinese but it was common to engrave the buddhist heart sutra into the sides yixing teapots, so I suspect it is this. I can't say for sure whether it is real or not, I'd recommend finding as much authentic yixing as you can and comparing the texture of the clay, shape, and color to find out more.
Jul 1st, '19, 23:47
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by FBee » Jul 1st, '19, 23:47
Kimwikorn wrote:
Hi, I’m very new to the tea world.
My friend got me this teapot from a shop in HK called “Fook Ming Tong”. She said it’s a very reliable shop with good reputation.
Is this Yixing pot authentic? What tea should I use it with? Also, the potter is probably no one
Fook Ming Tong is a large tea shop, which does not necessarily tell you much about the quality of this pot. Teashops often sell mass produced teaware over priced. That is how they get big and famous.
What is authentic Yixing anyways these days? So many crap coming out of Yixing, all authentic from Yixing, but is it good quality? Those are two different matters.
I would try a lot of teas in it to see which tea you like in it. If you brew in parallel in porcelain you have a control measure to see how it changes the tea.
Jul 4th, '19, 06:03
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by Teasenz » Jul 4th, '19, 06:03
Fook Ming Tong indeed has a good reputation. I think they use generic Yixing clay, which you can assume that it's safe to use. It's gonna be probably 'wai shan' clay. The craftmanship looks good, especially if the characters are carved. Looking at the carving, it's done with a lot of attention to detail, you can hardly say that about most cheaply carved teapots I see.
How does the strainer of the spout look like on the inside?
Jul 11th, '19, 10:57
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Location: Dingshu Town, Yixing 214221, Jiangsu, China
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by TEAMOOD » Jul 11th, '19, 10:57
without it on hand, everyone can just comment roughly. The seal of author reads Wang Xi Zhen(Female). No title result was searched in National database of art occupational titles(please be noted that search the name in National database rather in any 3rd party database if you are buying one aiming for value-added from author's fame) .
I don't know about the HK store so I won't comment anything.
In local market of zisha here, there are at least 2types of curving the buddhist text on teapot: PC programmed laser curving which is fast and easy for bulk production and hand curving which requires high skills for the craftman who has good handwriting skill as basis and it also costs much for the decorationa work. the golden color is depicted later by water-proof and thermo-resist material.
clay and technique seem all right. since it is a gift, just enjoy!
Jul 23rd, '19, 22:12
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by Qidjm » Jul 23rd, '19, 22:12
TEAMOOD wrote:
without it on hand, everyone can just comment roughly. The seal of author reads Wang Xi Zhen(Female). No title result was searched in National database of art occupational titles(please be noted that search the name in National database rather in any 3rd party database if you are buying one aiming for value-added from author's fame) .
I don't know about the HK store so I won't comment anything.
In local market of zisha here, there are at least 2types of curving the buddhist text on teapot: PC programmed laser curving which is fast and easy for bulk production and hand curving which requires high skills for the craftman who has good handwriting skill as basis and it also costs much for the decorationa work. the golden color is depicted later by water-proof and thermo-resist material.
clay and technique seem all right. since it is a gift, just enjoy!
Great post! I had no idea (I'm a little embarrassed to say
) that they used laser to make the characters for many teapots with the Heart Sutra but now that I read this, it is very obvious to see!
