Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Aged Zini Clay, 160ml

This is a 160 ml sculptural form teapot in Aged Zini Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 僧帽.

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 monk's cap — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, a Ming form taken from Tibetan Buddhist ritual vessels. 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 160 ml this fills three or four cups at once — enough for guests without moving to a full teapot. Best suited to ripe pu-erh, aged white tea and black tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 363, 160 ml, US$1500. 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.

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

Similar teapots

• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Duanni Clay, 200 ml, $1500
• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Golden Duanni Clay, 200 ml, $1600
• Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Zini Clay, 220 ml, $700

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