Official/Different Yixing Show Off Topic!

[debunix]

Wow, love the sleek lines and the elegant decoration. An all-around winner. And it's a native of Yixing itself. That's a pot of real distinction!

[IPT]

I would very much like to see the bottom of the pot and the interior, if that would not be too much trouble. Great pot!

[gingkoseto]

That's so cute! I love 4oz. fast pouring pots!

[David Duckler]

I would very much like to see the bottom of the pot and the interior, if that would not be too much trouble. Great pot!

Here you are. The shots of the interior were very difficult to get, so they're quality is not as high as I would have hoped. The color is also blown quite orange. However, this should hopefully give you some idea.

Bottom:


Spout filter:


Edge/clay detail shot:


Interior 1 and 2:

[IPT]

Thank you very much. That's a really pretty pot. I'm going to try to look him up next time I'm in Yixing.

[Victoria]

I agree - beautiful. I recently saw a porcelain kyusu with an elegant arching handle like that and I hesitated and now it is gone. Yours is just fabulous.

[David Duckler]

Thank you very much. That's a really pretty pot. I'm going to try to look him up next time I'm in Yixing.

You're very welcome. Do so! See what beautiful work he's up to these days! We've got four of his little pots, but there were several whose designs like the one below still make us "ooh" and "ah."



This one, however, is bigger than my head, and would only have been affordable if we were starting a private collection to go on display in our own personal museum. Maybe next time.

I agree - beautiful. I recently saw a porcelain kyusu with an elegant arching handle like that and I hesitated and now it is gone. Yours is just fabulous.

Oh, that's too bad! If you can find a teapot you like with kind of handle (and if the quality/craftsmanship is nice enough for you), I'd encourage you to go for it, even if only because they're so pleasant to pour from.

[tingjunkie]

We've got four of his little pots, but there were several whose designs like the one below still make us "ooh" and "ah."

For what it's worth, I like yours better! But then again, I've always been a sucker for kyusu aesthetics. Great pot VerdantTea!

[debunix]

What's most amazing to me is that the 2nd pot you showed is in such a different style and yet I find it just as attractive. This is an amazing potter.

[David Duckler]

What's most amazing to me is that the 2nd pot you showed is in such a different style and yet I find it just as attractive. This is an amazing potter.

Indeed, he is. The thing I like most about that second pot is the way he's pushing the form so hard. The pot is all about contrasts the blend together seamlessly, enhancing each other instead of competing. The tall, geometric handle that leans forward, the top's nib that arcs in response to the handle (but curved in a real arc), the perfectly smooth top, the spout that springs gracefully from the lines of the pot itself. And then on top of all of that, the ancient oracle bone calligraphy! Contemporary design that looks back to the roots of Chinese culture, and finds its own shapes mirroring the graphic style of oracle bone characters.

I feel like it's a sculpture, a real piece of art that some lucky person is going to get to watch, grow, and use everyday.

Then again, the difficulty of the form requires this to be much too large for a 2-3 person gongfu pot, which is really the most the I ever use.

Ah well! Here's to great yixing designers! It's a wonderful time to start collecting, since the fine teapots produced today are actually of higher quality than any other time in history. Here's to innovation in the creative continuation of traditional forms. History and culture, living through art objects and through the aesthetic appreciation that grows between an individual and their little cup of tea.

[tingjunkie]

It's a wonderful time to start collecting, since the fine teapots produced today are actually of higher quality than any other time in history.

Uh oh... duck.

[AdamMY]

It's a wonderful time to start collecting, since the fine teapots produced today are actually of higher quality than any other time in history.

Uh oh... duck.

Somewhere there is a Yixing teapot smashed against a wall.

[Maitre_Tea]

to be fair, I think that modern teapots may be of higher quality in terms of technical factors, such as lid fit, pour speed, and stuff like that

[AdamMY]

to be fair, I think that modern teapots may be of higher quality in terms of technical factors, such as lid fit, pour speed, and stuff like that

*Notice*
I have never held or examined any antique Yixing, nor am I a ceramic artist myself.
*end notice*

But I feel that technology may be allowing artisans to get more consistent results, with more easily controllable temperatures, and a more scientific understanding of ceramic properties and their behavior.

But that being said I feel that that makes the great pots of that time all the more special, not to mention the fact that its widely acknowledged that they have used some of the best clays, which are just about all but gone by now.

[David Duckler]

I feel that technology may be allowing artisans to get more consistent results, with more easily controllable temperatures, and a more scientific understanding of ceramic properties and their behavior.

But that being said I feel that that makes the great pots of that time all the more special, not to mention the fact that its widely acknowledged that they have used some of the best clays, which are just about all but gone by now.

If I was unclear, I apologize. You explain exactly what I meant. It is of course time and careful growth that makes an Yixing made with great clay great. However, in 50 or 100 years, the teapots made today that are carefully taken care of will, due to advances in craftsmanship and design, grow into more spectacular examples of all that an Yixing clay teapot can be.

Unlike other traditional crafts that a generally on the decline (lost in the shadow of their irretrievable predecessors), Yixing pottery is continuing to grow, change, push the craft further and further past the limits and on into new frontiers of possibility.