Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Duanni Clay, 140ml
Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Duanni Clay, 140ml
This is a 140 ml sculptural form teapot in Duanni Clay, wood-fired, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 梅桩.
The clay. A co-formed ore of zini and green clay, firing to a satin yellow. Duanni is strongly sandy — more bone than flesh, as potters put it — and among the most breathable bodies in Yixing. Very open. It suits delicate teas where you want lift and clarity rather than weight.
The form. The subject here is plum stump — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, flowering before anything else does. 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. Fired in a wood kiln, where flame path and falling ash decide the surface. Every piece comes out of the kiln differently, and none of it can be repeated on purpose.
Size and tea. 140 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 green tea, raw pu-erh and white tea.
One honest note on duanni-family clays: because the body is pale and very open, dark and heavily roasted teas can leave uneven marks if the pot is handled with oily hands or left wet. Rinse it, dry it, and keep it to lighter teas and it will come up beautifully.
This pot. Catalogue no. 383, 140 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.
| Clay | Duanni Clay (段泥) |
|---|---|
| Form | Sculptural Form (仿生器) |
| Capacity | 140 ml |
| Craft | Wood-fired (柴烧) |
| Origin | Dingshu, Yixing, Jiangsu, China |
| Catalogue no. | 383 |
New to zisha? Read how to season a Yixing teapot before first use.
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Or browse every Duanni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.
