Handmade Xu Bian Yixing Zisha Teapot – Jiangponi Clay, 150ml

This is a 150 ml xu bian teapot in Jiangponi Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 虚扁.

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 Xu Bian form (汲直) dates to the Qing dynasty, Jiaqing–Daoguang era, attributed to Chen Mansheng and Yang Pengnian. One of the eighteen Mansheng forms, named for a vessel for drawing water. A straight cylindrical body, flat shoulders, short and forceful spout. Structural and upright — bone rather than flesh. Reads as clean well water on a tea table.

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. 150 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 black tea, light oolong and ripe pu-erh.

This pot. Catalogue no. 107, 150 ml, US$85. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 顾培均. 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 Lian Deng Yixing Zisha Teapot — Jiangponi Clay, 130 ml, $85
• Handmade Xiao Ying Yixing Zisha Teapot — Jiangponi Clay, 160 ml, $85
• Handmade Paozun Yixing Zisha Teapot — Jiangponi Clay, 160 ml, $85

Or browse every Jiangponi pot · the full Yixing catalogue.