Looking at this Yixing pot

[GARCH]

Good luck with your exams! Lots of potentially great teapots await you once you get done.

Thank you! Honestly can't wait for my first yixing pot hunt to begin.

I must warn you that the Yixing path is a hard and dark ones. Be careful and don't rush. Old pots are rare now, even if you can find it in Singapore, they are not cheap now. There are a lot of fakes or doubtful Yixing pots around in Singapore too. So be careful and try to learn first and don't end up with boxes of "tuition" pots.

Thanks for the advice! I did pop by Chinatown and went to one teashop today to check out their offerings. Sadly their better pots have pretty steep prices, around 170USD at least.

With my limited experience I really can't tell how good they are, besides better worksmanship and the fact that everything looks more well crafted. I can clearly see the tool marks inside the pot as well, lines radiating out from the centre.
One pretty expensive pot also comes with a certificate of authenticity by the master (legit or not I have no idea). However that particular pot I did notice that it comes with stamps on the inside of the pot wall, in addition to those at the bottom of the handle and the base of the pot. The clay was coarser as well.

One thing I would like to ask is if it's normal for the inside and outside of the pot to show different clay colors? For example today I saw an expensive hongni pot that looks burnished on the outside, but inside it's actually matte red and has specks of yellow/golden sand embedded in it. It can be seen on the outside as well, just much less obvious and you really have to go up close and scrutinize it.

[Teaism]

Hmmmm you are in the forest now. Lots of predator pots sniffing you out. Better run before it is too late.

But seriously, go for the 80s pots. Those new good looking pots or those dirt( shoe polish) pots must be avoided. 70s and 80s is humble and made of real Yixing but the workmanship is more of production than artistic standard generally . They have some (very little left) in Tea Chapter and Chinese Tea House in Bugis.

Happy hunting! Don't get hunted.

[theredbaron]

But seriously, go for the 80s pots. Those new good looking pots or those dirt( shoe polish) pots must be avoided. 70s and 80s is humble and made of real Yixing but the workmanship is more of production than artistic standard generally .

+1

Those pots are drinking pots - made to use and not to brag.

Much better to use than some fancy "artist" pot with certificate, which anyhow come a dime a dozen in China. The real artist collector pots with which people speculate financially are way out of most tea drinkers pockets, and are anyhow not really made to use.

[futurebird]

http://www.sampletea.com/product/1990s- ... -wu-cai-di

Sample tea's pot are reliable. You will not find something "from the 80s" online for less than $160-ish. I hope things go better for you in the stores!

[GARCH]

+1

Those pots are drinking pots - made to use and not to brag.

Much better to use than some fancy "artist" pot with certificate, which anyhow come a dime a dozen in China. The real artist collector pots with which people speculate financially are way out of most tea drinkers pockets, and are anyhow not really made to use.

Hmmmm you are in the forest now. Lots of predator pots sniffing you out. Better run before it is too late.

But seriously, go for the 80s pots. Those new good looking pots or those dirt( shoe polish) pots must be avoided. 70s and 80s is humble and made of real Yixing but the workmanship is more of production than artistic standard generally . They have some (very little left) in Tea Chapter and Chinese Tea House in Bugis.

Happy hunting! Don't get hunted.

Thank you all for the advice! This reminds me that all I want is a decent teapot to brew good tea Teaism I will probably drop by those 2 shops tomorrow for a while to check them out They have been on my to-visit list for quite some time.

[bagua7]

Sadly their better pots have pretty steep prices, around 170USD at least.

Average price if the Yixing is decent.

However that particular pot I did notice that it comes with stamps on the inside of the pot wall

Handmade pot. Nothing wrong with that, is it?

One thing I would like to ask is if it's normal for the inside and outside of the pot to show different clay colors?

There is a technique whereby zhu ni and zi ni are both added together in order to make the pot more affordable as 100% zhu ni is expensive and pots tend to crack during firing. Some of the more knowledgeable users can give the name of that particular technique as I can't remember now what it's called.

However, I'm not sure if that's what you saw since you are not providing a visual example.

For example today I saw an expensive hongni pot that looks burnished on the outside, but inside it's actually matte red and has specks of yellow/golden sand embedded in it. It can be seen on the outside as well, just much less obvious and you really have to go up close and scrutinize it.

Duan ni specks added. I love those pots. I got one with me which uses that technique.

[edkrueger]

However that particular pot I did notice that it comes with stamps on the inside of the pot wall

Handmade pot. Nothing wrong with that, is it?

Why do you think that? Is it impossible to stamp a non-handmade pot?

[bagua7]

In the "inside" of the pot? Maybe "Houdini" would be able to do that but certainly not the average Yixing potter.

[edkrueger]

I'd think potters could use a tool to stamp the inside.

[wyardley]

A chop on the inside wall would be hard to do with a slipcast pot, so I think the extra stamps on the side walls are sometimes to "'prove" that the pot is handmade or half handmade.

Personally, I think the trend towards having so many different seals on a pot is tacky.

[GARCH]

A chop on the inside wall would be hard to do with a slipcast pot, so I think the extra stamps on the side walls are sometimes to "'prove" that the pot is handmade or half handmade.

Personally, I think the trend towards having so many different seals on a pot is tacky.

Yeah I think I read somewhere before that sometimes they do stamp the inside of the pot for identification purposes (eg. this slab of clay is meant for the body of this pot etc).

And thanks for all the help TCers! I just got my first Yixing teapot, roughly 110USD, Ba Le shape and 100ml in volume The proprietor told me it's around an 80s pot,half handmade. The worksmanship is decent, medium speed pour with no drips from the lid. He said it's made from Qing Shui Ni but to be honest I'm no expert

I'll try to get some pics up!

Bottom


Inside of pot


Underside of lid (Color is off)


Pot itself



Illegible chop

[yalokinh]

Love the shape of it

[gingkoseto]

About the inner seal, if the seal looks as perfectly-shaped as this one, then it's not fully manually made.
http://img04.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i4/ ... 233906.jpg
(this is just an example, and the seller of this teapot didn't sell it as a fully manually made one)

But nowadays it doesn't seem trendy anymore to put a seal in a non-fully hand made teapots, so I would guess most inner seals are found in fully-hand made teapots.
Besides, the semi-handmade yixing has much more handmade sense than a lot of other handmade things. After all, few things can be made with hands only

[wert]

A chop on the inside wall would be hard to do with a slipcast pot, so I think the extra stamps on the side walls are sometimes to "'prove" that the pot is handmade or half handmade.

Personally, I think the trend towards having so many different seals on a pot is tacky.

Yeah I think I read somewhere before that sometimes they do stamp the inside of the pot for identification purposes (eg. this slab of clay is meant for the body of this pot etc).

And thanks for all the help TCers! I just got my first Yixing teapot, roughly 110USD, Ba Le shape and 100ml in volume The proprietor told me it's around an 80s pot,half handmade. The worksmanship is decent, medium speed pour with no drips from the lid. He said it's made from Qing Shui Ni but to be honest I'm no expert

I'll try to get some pics up!

Bottom


Inside of pot


Underside of lid (Color is off)


Pot itself



Illegible chop

It is a good looking pot! I owned several pots myself, all bought more than a few years back, late 90s-2000. I have little idea of their quality or history, is there anyway for me to learn more about them? Maybe a local expert? (singapore)?