Is this real zhu ni?

[betta]

Thanks for confirming my suspicions and saving some tuition money! I was a little suspicious of the consistency in direction and texture of the ripples. In fairness, the seller never represented the pot as being made of zhu ni, just "old."

Marshall, any idea how they would use wet toilet paper to create the texture?

Have seen it somewhere:
Just stack toilet paper, that rectangular one which is used for hand-wiping.
And press the pot against the side of it before firing to give such a shrinkage texture.

[chrl42]

No, looks like a toilet paper creation.

[chrl42]

Zhuni shrinks more when it's hand-made. Mould-used Zhuni, wrinkles are hardely seen.

http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li2.jpg
http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li3.jpg

Plus, wrinkles don't appear on every spots. There is a spot that wrinks more which is the pot that breaks more when firing. Highly shrunk pot leaves more trim marks, joint marks etc..

The first post's pot looks toilet paper + iron oxide creation, imho. Almost all clayware shrinks when it's fired high I've heard. Zhuni shrinks more cos it's naturally delicate and lacks Al(or potters'd call 'bone'). Pure Zhuni is merely 'skin', adding a ball clay or mixing Hongni is the way potters give 'bone', to above a breakage while firing..

[TokyoB]

Zhuni shrinks more when it's hand-made. Mould-used Zhuni, wrinkles are hardely seen.

http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li2.jpg
http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li3.jpg

Plus, wrinkles don't appear on every spots. There is a spot that wrinks more which is the pot that breaks more when firing. Highly shrunk pot leaves more trim marks, joint marks etc..

The first post's pot looks toilet paper + iron oxide creation, imho. Almost all clayware shrinks when it's fired high I've heard. Zhuni shrinks more cos it's naturally delicate and lacks Al(or potters'd call 'bone'). Pure Zhuni is merely 'skin', adding a ball clay or mixing Hongni is the way potters give 'bone', to above a breakage while firing..

Hi chrl42 - thanks again for the info. By the way, the photo links seem blocked.

[wenpin]

chrl42, thanks you - your posts are always insightful.

Can you elaborate more about mould-used zhu ni? How would you identify that the clay is zhu ni in the case, particularly for older pots when moulds were more commonly used?

[chrl42]

chrl42, thanks you - your posts are always insightful.

Can you elaborate more about mould-used zhu ni? How would you identify that the clay is zhu ni in the case, particularly for older pots when moulds were more commonly used?

Moulds weren't used often for older pots, most of Ming, Qing, ROC Zhunis are hand-made, at least that I've witnessed.

Zhuni is easier to check whether it's hand made or not, than normal zisha. Zhuni potters don't tend to remove or trim those joint marks, because touching too many spots will make Zhuni ugly after firing. Like TokyoB's picture, upper spot of body has more wrinkles than mid spot, joint marks are left, more touched spots also leave more wrinkles, in this case irreguarly. Good Zhuni potters know how to make the wrinkles appear prettier after firing.

Look inside the pot, hand-made one will leave more hints like finger prints, irregular trim marks, wrinkles around joint spots, joint lines behind the handle, bottom-wall, inside lid, as I'm told..

Too bad, pictures are blocked...

[wenpin]

Here's one I bought recently from a local teashop. It is one of the older tea merchants in Singapore which means they also have a good selection of old teaware which has been gently gathering dust over the years.



All the purported zhuni pots had clear joint lines and were small in size. Texture varied from fairly smooth to more pronounced wrinkle lines like the one I picked.



Here's a view of the handworking and texture on the inside



But I am also a little concerned about the joint line. On closer look, I am not sure if it will develop into a fatal crack...



Here is the bottom - quite unusual - an inscription with 3 chops.

inscription reads: "pleasure of a scholar"
top right inscription reads "fragrance"
bottom right looks to be the artist's name, which I can't read.



What do you think, guys? Is this the real deal?

p.s. sorry, the colour is a little off due to the white balance. True colour is closest to the last picture.

[the_economist]

i love it. no idea about the joint line. what size is this babe?

[bagua7]

Gorgeous pot...pity that crack...looks quite nasty.

Care if I ask, how much did you pay for it?

Thanks.

[TIM]

Modern Zhuni mix. Dragon egg made recently.

[wenpin]

Thanks Tim!

Is it because it looks pretty new and unused?

Capacity of the pot is 120ml, single hole. Recommended tea pairing is TGY - will try it out later this week.

It's not so much a crack, but the joint line having pulled apart during firing, creating a seam about 0.5mm wide and deep. I will see if better pictures can be taken of it.

[brandon]

Thanks Tim!

Is it because it looks pretty new and unused?

Well, the color in the photo is a much deeper red than real 'lao zhu ni.'
Modern clay and firing technique are just not the same... Old zhuni has more orange tint.

Also the potting technique is very modern.

Sorry about the crack

[chrl42]

You see the bottom and the wall, and scratching marks, it appears when a potter tries to join them,

at least in hand-making, and the line on the back of handle, also 'hand-making joint line',

if you look at the wall carefully, there should be wrinkles around bottom (scratching marks), some marks or finger prints..looks too clear in my eyes

I humbly guess it could be hand-making imitation, but then again the pictures weren't clear, or I could be wrong too

C

[chrl42]

I've got one of my pot pictures left-over

[chrl42]

Zhuni shrinks more when it's hand-made. Mould-used Zhuni, wrinkles are hardely seen.

http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li2.jpg
http://pics.tuke1.com/space/sharon/10.12.06/li3.jpg

Plus, wrinkles don't appear on every spots. There is a spot that wrinks more which is the pot that breaks more when firing. Highly shrunk pot leaves more trim marks, joint marks etc..

The first post's pot looks toilet paper + iron oxide creation, imho. Almost all clayware shrinks when it's fired high I've heard. Zhuni shrinks more cos it's naturally delicate and lacks Al(or potters'd call 'bone'). Pure Zhuni is merely 'skin', adding a ball clay or mixing Hongni is the way potters give 'bone', to above a breakage while firing..

Hi chrl42 - thanks again for the info. By the way, the photo links seem blocked.

I downloaded on my disk and used a server of Teachat

There are 2 lines (2~3mm) looking each others, which are more notiecable on highly shrinking Zhuni..there are many ways of hand-making..but that kind of lines are very common on lixing

that's very high-quality Zhaozhuang Zhuni..that delicate nature can have the pot 1/3 breakage when hand-making...