Pumpkin Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Jiangponi Clay, 120ml

This is a 120 ml pumpkin sculptural form teapot in Jiangponi Clay, partially handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 南瓜.

The clay. Mined from the slope between Huanglong and Qinglong mountains, where red and yellow ores meet — so the fired body carries both, warm and softly mottled. Fine-grained with a gentle sand feel. It polishes to an oily lustre faster than most clays and brews sweet and round.

The form. The subject here is pumpkin — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, abundance and a full harvest. 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. Formed with the help of a mould for the body, with the spout, handle, lid and finishing worked by hand. A well-made half-handmade pot is a good pot; the difference is in labour, not in whether it brews well.

Size and tea. 120 ml is the classic gongfu size — comfortable for one drinker or two sharing small cups, and the volume most Chaoshan-style brewing was built around. Best suited to black tea, light oolong and ripe pu-erh.

This pot. Catalogue no. 008, 120 ml, US$200. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 韩传杰. We buy directly from the workshop rather than through a wholesaler, so the attribution comes with the pot.

New to zisha? Read how to season a Yixing teapot before first use.

Similar teapots

• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Jiangponi Clay, 150 ml, $350
• Pumpkin Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Aged Duanni Clay, 160 ml, $200
• Tree-Trunk Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Yellow Jiangponi Clay, 130 ml, $200

Or browse every Jiangponi pot · the full Yixing catalogue.