Zisha Teapots

[dannd]

Hello!

Im new but I love looking at all sorts of zisha teapots members have posted on here. I have come across a few of these teapots myself (living in a city with the second largest China town in the world makes it easy) and I am trying to learn as much as possible. Unfortunately one of my debilities is not being able to read Chinese so reading the marks/calligraphy is complicated. I also have not touched a lot of high quality zisha teapots so I am unsure what is considered high quality, decent quality and low quality. I have two teapots which I would like some opinions on so I can weigh my future finds against these to know if they are of a higher or lower quality. I would also like to know what the seal marks say as well as the type of clay used in these piece. Thank you for your input!

[kyarazen]

zee kolour is very intense

[bagua7]

Bad news first ( ): Pots are not good.

Good news: You can buy decent pots online if you think in the real world proves to be a difficult quest. Here are some vendors:

*Springteaware
*Wisdom China (eBay). Their di cao qing, some zini and zhuni pots are not good, the rest are excellent especially the aged zini, old duanni and jiangpo ni.
*Sample Tea
*Teavic (etsy)
*Life in Teacup (limited stock at the moment)
*Jing Tea Shop (out of stock at the moment)
*You are in China, right? Here's a taobao vendor if you are keen:

http://shop36049974.taobao.com/

On the other hand, what tea are you thinking of drinking, if several then dedicate one pot to each, i.e. one to raw puerh, one to ripe puer, one to oolong. With three good pots you have more then enough to play with. Invest in tea and water first and foremost. Pots come later.

Good luck

[dannd]

Hello,

Thank you for the information. However could you please elaborate on why they are not good? This will give me some information to look out for in the future whenever I come across more pots. I live in Vancouver Canada (hence the second biggest China town) and a wide variety of pots come around (some antique and some cheap (under $100) zisha tea sets) so I would like to know the faults with mine so I can be more discerning when I see them.

As for the coloring, it's a little intense but this is due to the high contrast between the pot and white background (its much more muted in tone).

Thank you for your help!

[futurebird]

In the first one it might just be the contrast but the clay looks dyed. I have seen some bright natural oranges but not that dark and most were high-fired (smoother finish) This pot looks like it was made using a mold and stencil for the art. That isn't bad, just an observation.

The second one has a plastic quality that makes me feel pessimistic about the clay. The spout and the ball on the lid are not cleanly formed. It's not crisp.

[dannd]

Futurebird,

Its definitely the contrast in both teapots that you are noticing. The white background makes the teapots almost glow but they are much more muted in real life. The "red" teapot is actually a slightly red brown. Maybe Ill take more photos where its more accurate.

To give you an idea - its actually closest to this color
http://t-lovers.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... ingers.jpg

The brown teapot is not as shiny or plastic looking in person, I dont know why it appears like that in the photographs, probably just a high reflection from the white. I definitely see what you mean by the "unfinished" quality about it. It still has tool marks, especially around the handle and spout joints - something I would assume wouldnt be present on higher end pots.

Any information on the seals?

Thank you for your information!