Handmade Shipiao Yixing Zisha Teapot – Jiangponi Clay, 130ml

This is a 130 ml shipiao teapot in Jiangponi Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 隐瓢.

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 Shipiao form (石瓢) dates to the Qing dynasty, Jiaqing–Daoguang era, attributed to Chen Mansheng and Yang Pengnian. Originally called shidiao, one of the eighteen Mansheng forms. The name carries a line from Su Dongpo and a Buddhist idea — of three thousand rivers, one drinks a single gourd. Triangular in profile, flat-bodied, standing on three small feet. Plain to the point of severity, and completely stable on the table. The form most often described as great skill appearing clumsy.

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

This pot. Catalogue no. 109, 130 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.

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