Hand-Grip Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Golden Duanni Clay, 130ml

This is a 130 ml hand-grip form teapot in Golden Duanni Clay, hand-carved, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 灵珠.

The clay. The duanni that fires brightest — a clear, luminous gold, with an unusually fine and even grain for the family. Deepens from yellow toward amber as it is used, so the colour of the pot and the colour of the liquor start to answer each other. Best on lighter teas where that can be seen.

The form. The Hand-Grip Form (手抓壶) dates to the contemporary, attributed to contemporary makers. Built to be held by the body rather than a handle — the grip is worked into the form itself. Unusually direct in the hand. You feel the wall thickness and the heat of the tea as you pour.

How it was made. Decoration cut into the leather-hard clay by hand with a steel blade, in the Yixing engraving tradition that goes back to Chen Mansheng's collaborations with potters.

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 light oolong.

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. 385, 130 ml, US$600. 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.

Similar teapots

• Handmade Hand-Grip Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Songhua Duanni Clay, 140 ml, $350
• Handmade Pumpkin Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Golden Duanni Clay, 135 ml, $500
• Hand-Grip Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Golden Duanni Clay, 110 ml, $350

Or browse every Golden Duanni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.