Chinese Yixing Teawares book - seen this?

[TokyoB]

Has anyone seen this book? Sounds very interesting but hesitant to order for $150 if I don't know exactly what I'm getting!

古壶之美
Chinese Yixing Teawares from the Collection of the Mai Foundation
Gu Hu Zhi Mei
成阳艺术文化基金会
ISBN 9579748292
MAI Foundation

http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... N=80645355

[TIM]

Depends on what you what to learn. If you want to know more about 1900 onwards master pieces:
http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... item=31044

Chinese Yixing Teawares from the Collection of the Mai Foundation is mostly a brief history and have older pots.

[wyardley]

I have two of the MAI foundation books (that one, and another one which features a lot of their collection called "Appreciation of Zisha Teapots" -- http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... item=30228).

I have the book Tim mentioned too, but the MAI foundation one you listed is my favorite of all my Yixing books. It has the biggest percentage of pots I'd actually want to use / own of any Yixing book I've seen (this is just based on my personal aesthetic; I tend to like small, simple pots more than the "artistic" type). The downside is that the description of the pots are a little on the poetic side (to the exclusion of actual interesting facts about the pots) and get a little irritating (you can only hear "...in this fast-paced modern world, it's nice to get away from all the blahblahblah..." so many times), and if I recall correctly, there are only a few bits in the intro text that are that useful / interesting.

"Appreciation" is good too; the descriptions aren't quite as "poetic", and I think the articles have a little more substance; however, the English translations aren't quite as good, and I think the one you mentioned has the nicest pots to look through. The pots in this book are mostly pots that were excavated, so they're not as clean looking, and they're pretty much all older pots (with a couple of exceptions), while the first one has at least some newer pots. The article on Chaoshan Congou (gong fu) and a couple of the other articles at the beginning are interesting reading.

Guang of Hou De also mentions this book at the bottom of his review of another book (which, by the way, I do not recommend):
http://houdeblog.com/?p=110

What I've not found (yet) is an English language book that has a really high level discussion of the process of making / firing pots, the types of clay and famous mines, etc. Also, I haven't found any (maybe Tim knows some) that focus on ordinary pots (not by famous masters) from the 20th century.

[TokyoB]

So, TIM (or Will) is the book that you (TIM) referenced on Master Pieces contain more ornate modern pieces? How is the text? Does it discuss types of clay, use of certain types of pots for certain teas, etc?

Will - I also prefer smaller, more simple pots. So it sounds like you might recommend starting with the book I referenced??

Also while looking at Paragon, ran across this too.
http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... item=31005

[xuancheng]

Also while looking at Paragon, ran across this too.
http://www.paragonbook.com/html/browses ... item=31005

I am interested in this book too. Has anyone read it/ looked at it?

Be careful before you buy any of Paragon's books. This one is noted as:

text in Chinese with list of plates in English

[wyardley]

So, TIM (or Will) is the book that you (TIM) referenced on Master Pieces contain more ornate modern pieces? How is the text?

The text at the beginning is mostly book introduction type stuff - no real substance there. A little bit of information, but also some ego-stroking. The book is laid out by artist, with a couple of pages each for a lot of artists or families (famous / up and coming), with some brief information (in English and traditional Chinese) on the artist and / or their work. A few artists rate a couple of extra pages (Gu Jingzhou gets a 4 page spread), and then at the end, there are some (less famous, at least at that time) artists who get a brief 1/2 or 1/4 page mention.

The pots are mostly more contemporary, and mostly There is an assortment of different styles... trompe l'oeil / realistic style ones, some geometric and flower type ones, and some more traditional shapes with calligraphy.

It's great if you want an overview of who the contemporary masters are (or were at the time of writing), and a basic idea of some of their masterpieces / most famous works. For me, it's a little overwhelming - there are a lot of individual potters in the book.

Does it discuss types of clay, use of certain types of pots for certain teas, etc?

No real discussion of that; I don't think any of the books I've seen so far have much discussion of that in their English text, with the exception of "The Beauty of Chinese Yixing Teapots", which again, I don't recommend (other than for its pictures, which are beautiful, but not worth the price that the book commands on the used market IMO). There is a short (~ 1/2 page) description of how to assess a pot's value (Visual Beauty, Standard of Execution, Ornamental Value are the key talking points).

The MAI Foundation book (Chinese Yixing Teawares From....) Does have some pretty long (and surprisingly well translated) longer articles that at least give some basic historical context and other information.

As long as you can handle stuff like:

The exhortation to "walk ten thousand miles, and read ten thousand books" finds its emphasis not in road covered or books perused, but in the degree of openness of one's heart. We are encouraged to broaden our horizons for the purpose of learning determination. This concurrent expansion of heart and mind is exactly the spirit this piece attempts to capture.

[about a teapot made in the 1700s]

or

Modern man is so overwhelmed by worry and anxiety that he seems incapable of handling any pressure whatsoever. How rare, then, is it to find a space in one's overstuffed existence for a little relaxation, a place one can set down the burdens of an agitated mind.

I really suggest this book; if I had to pick one of my teapot books to keep, this one would probably be it. But honestly, the descriptions of individual pieces do get a little annoying, repetitive, and heavy-handed at times.

The articles in the "Appreciation..." book, as well as the much more factual descriptions of each piece make it also worth picking up if you have the cash to burn, though since 1/3 of the pieces are from the MAI Foundation's collection, there is some overlap.

I have a few other books as well, though most of them have only Chinese text, so for me, they're mostly useful for the pictures.

BTW, I've bought most of my books from Paragon, and I've found them to be fantastic. Since this is their field, they have a better selection than any other single source, and their prices are usually better than, or at least competitive with, the price you can find from other dealers, either directly or via Amazon.