Handmade Zhu Duan Yixing Zisha Teapot – Luni Clay, 180ml

This is a 180 ml zisha teapot in Luni Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 竹段.

The clay. Red from its iron content but without zhuni's intensity. More abundant, more stable, and easier to form, which is why it turns up across so many classic shapes. Lifts fragrance without flattening the body of the tea — the balance point between zini's depth and zhuni's brightness.

The form. This is the Zhu Duan form — 竹段 in Chinese. It is one of the many shapes carried in the Dingshu workshops outside the small set of canonical forms, and it is built by the same slab-and-beat method as the classics. We describe what we can verify: the ore, the method and the proportions.

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 180 ml this fills three or four cups at once — enough for guests without moving to a full teapot. Best suited to black tea, roasted oolong and red tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 128, 180 ml, US$150. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 范卫兵. 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 Hanwa Yixing Zisha Teapot — Luni Clay, 170 ml, $85
• Handmade Fanggu Yixing Zisha Teapot — Luni Clay, 200 ml, $85
• Handmade Lian Hua Yixing Zisha Teapot — Luni Clay, 140 ml, $101

Or browse every Luni pot.