Handmade Gourd Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Duanni Clay, 130ml
Handmade Gourd Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Duanni Clay, 130ml
This is a 130 ml sculptural form teapot in Duanni Clay, fully handmade with thin-wall construction, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 葫芦.
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 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 and worked thin. Thin walls are the hardest thing to do without distortion, and they change how quickly the pot gives up heat.
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 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. 312, 130 ml, US$420. 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 | 130 ml |
| Craft | Fully handmade with thin-wall construction (全手工薄胎) |
| Origin | Dingshu, Yixing, Jiangsu, China |
| Catalogue no. | 312 |
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.
