Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Golden Duanni Clay, 80ml – No. 298
Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Golden Duanni Clay, 80ml – No. 298
This is a 80 ml sculptural form teapot in Golden Duanni Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 松鼠竹节.
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 subject here is bamboo — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, an upright, hollow-hearted humility. 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. At 80 ml this is a solo pot. One person, short infusions, and the small volume means you can push a good leaf through eight or ten steeps without ever brewing more than you drink. 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. 298, 80 ml, US$650. 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 | Sculptural Form (仿生器) |
| Capacity | 80 ml |
| Craft | Fully handmade (全手工) |
| Origin | Dingshu, Yixing, Jiangsu, China |
| Catalogue no. | 298 |
New to zisha? Read how to season a Yixing teapot before first use.
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Or browse every Golden Duanni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.
