Handmade Gourd Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Dahongpao Clay, 170ml

This is a 170 ml gourd form teapot in Dahongpao Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 葫芦.

The clay. The top grade of zhuni — an intensely red ore, scarce, and so prone to shrinkage that most of a kiln load is lost. The pots that survive are vivid and even. The most aroma-forward clay in the catalogue. Nothing is absorbed; everything is thrown forward into the cup.

The form. The subject here is gourd — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, a pun on fu-lu — good fortune and rank. Naturalistic work — huaqi — takes its subject from the living world: gourds, pine, bamboo, lotus, fruit, animals. It descends directly from Gongchun's tree-burl pot, the founding object of the craft. Each piece is modelled and carved rather than turned, so no two come out the same.

How it was made. Built entirely by hand — the wall is beaten out from a slab and joined without a mould. Inside the body you can still read the tool marks and the joint line, which is how the method is verified.

Size and tea. At 170 ml this fills three or four cups at once — enough for guests without moving to a full teapot. Best suited to dancong, yancha and high-fragrance oolong.

This pot. Catalogue no. 093, 170 ml, US$85. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 谭翊顺. We buy directly from the workshop rather than through a wholesaler, so the attribution comes with the pot.

New to zisha? Read how to season a Yixing teapot before first use.

Similar teapots

• Handmade Flat-Lid Shipiao Yixing Zisha Teapot — Dahongpao Clay, 180 ml, $85
• Handmade Xishi Yixing Zisha Teapot — Dahongpao Clay, 180 ml, $85
• Handmade Tall Shipiao Yixing Zisha Teapot — Dahongpao Clay, 160 ml, $85

Or browse every Dahongpao pot · the full Yixing catalogue.