Handmade Gongchun Yixing Zisha Teapot – Golden Duanni Clay, 160ml
Handmade Gongchun Yixing Zisha Teapot – Golden Duanni Clay, 160ml
This is a 160 ml gongchun teapot in Golden Duanni Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 供春.
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 Gongchun form (供春) dates to the Ming dynasty, Zhengde era, attributed to Gongchun. The founding object of Yixing pottery. A servant boy named Gongchun, attending his master's studies at Jinsha Temple, watched an old monk make pots and modelled his own on the burl of a ginkgo tree beside the temple. Bark-textured and irregular by design. 'A Gongchun pot is worth more than gold or jade' — the ancestor of the whole craft.
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 160 ml this fills three or four cups at once — enough for guests without moving to a full teapot. 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. 369, 160 ml, US$700. 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 | Golden Duanni Clay (黄金段) |
|---|---|
| Form | Gongchun (供春) |
| Capacity | 160 ml |
| Craft | Fully handmade (全手工) |
| Origin | Dingshu, Yixing, Jiangsu, China |
| Catalogue no. | 369 |
New to zisha? Read how to season a Yixing teapot before first use.
Similar teapots
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Or browse every Golden Duanni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.
