Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Dicaoqing Zini Clay, 130ml

This is a 130 ml sculptural form teapot in Dicaoqing Zini Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 松桩.

The clay. The most prized layer of the zini seam, cut from the very bottom of the deposit and recognisable by the green 'chicken-eye' inclusions in the raw ore. It fires purple with a green cast and a dense, jade-like surface. Dense yet still breathable — an unusual combination. Collectors seek it out because the patina stays restrained and deepens slowly rather than turning glossy.

The form. The subject here is pine stump — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, the pine as one of the Three Friends of Winter. 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. 130 ml serves two to three people from a single fill, which makes it the most generally useful size on a tea table. Best suited to aged pu-erh, yancha and black tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 359, 130 ml, US$550. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by an independent Dingshu potter working outside the titled-master system. We do not attach a name we cannot verify.

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

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• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Aged Zini Clay, 130 ml, $750

Or browse every Dicaoqing Zini pot · the full Yixing catalogue.