Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Aged Zini Clay, 130ml

This is a 130 ml sculptural form teapot in Aged Zini Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 长乐.

The clay. Zini ore that has been weathered and stored for years before use. The saying in Yixing is that clay grows more supple with age — aged zini works more smoothly on the wheel and fires to a deeper, more settled purple. Mellower than fresh zini. The liquor comes through soft and rounded rather than bright, which is why long-time drinkers tend to gravitate to older stock.

The form. The subject here is eternal joy — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, from the Han roof-tile inscription chang le wei yang. 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. 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 ripe pu-erh, aged white tea and black tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 342, 130 ml, US$750. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 张琦. 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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• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Aged Zini Clay, 160 ml, $1500

Or browse every Aged Zini pot · the full Yixing catalogue.