My Zisha teapot

[kenco]

Hi All,

My name is Ken and I am new to the fascinating culture of Zisha clay pot tea brewing. Whilst I've always drank Chinese tea since young, I am just beginning to learn and educate myself on the knowledge of this subject which makes it all the more interesting.

The attached photos so a teapot that was gifted to me from a family member a few years ago but I have only had the chance now (during lock-down) to actually start using it to brew Pu-erh.

I have a few question that hopefully someone with superior knowledge to me can help answer.

Whilst I don't doubt the authenticity of the teapot, it would just be nice to "know"

Questions:

1) Handle:
The teapot is Xi Shi style, with a thicker bottom part of the handle. I understand this style is traditionally held by grasping with the whole hand and drinking directly from the spout. I have noticed that the handle is curved. from the top of the handle, it sways/bends left whilst going down - see photo 1. is this a design feature to make grasping it easier with whole hand? or perhaps this is a sign of poor craftsmanship and is a flaw?

2) Potters Mark
Looking at the potters mark on my teapot photo 2- I am unable to match it to any of the marks shown in the catalogue it came with or the certificate it came with. Why is this? am I just reading it upside down


why are there so many variations of the marks shown in their catalogue (photo 7)?

3) Certificate - photo 3
I know certificates can also be faked. But I was looking at the back of my certificate and you can clearly see the ink of the writing has lighter and darker spots - indicating it was truly hand written. is this a good sign to judge that this is not fake certificate (and therefore teapot) assuming that if it was fake it would have just been mass printed off a printer/computer. I wouldn't imagine a faker would bother to hand write a fake cert?

4) Potter's info - Chen Hua Song 陳華松
I have tried to research more on this potter's craft online but have been unsuccessful. Does this mean potter/master is not too famous? any insightful or further info would be appreciated.

I would have posted more photos but 3 is the max




Many thanks in advance

Ken

[Bridgette]

Hey Ken! Welcome to TeaChat!

You mentioned you tried to post photos, but wanted to let you know they didn't make it on your post.

[kenco]

try again on the photos.....

1

2

3

[kenco]

[TuoChaTea]

This “patina” was on the teapot when you started to use it?

[TuoChaTea]

The asymetrical handle is a wrong craftmanship.

[kenco]

This “patina” was on the teapot when you started to use it?

Hi TuaChaTea,

yes it already had a certain amount of "shine" to it when I first received it. The teapot was previously used by my family that gifted it to me. how much I'm not sure but I could see light tea stains on the inside even before I started using it.

The day I took the photo of the teapot , it was very bright and sunny, it might have exaggerated the shine on it.

[kenco]

The asymetrical handle is a wrong craftmanship.

Thanks for your input on this. I would have thought it was too. Now this just makes me doubt the quality of the clay if this is the case

But in a weird way I quite like the curved handle - its quite unique and can't get it mixed up with any other pot