Handmade Fan Lian Wu Xiang Yixing Zisha Teapot – Tianqingni Clay, 100ml

This is a 100 ml zisha teapot in Tianqingni Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 梵莲无相.

The clay. A legendary zini recorded in Ming-dynasty texts and now genuinely scarce. It fires to a deep, quiet blue-green cast with a faint purple glow and a very fine grain. Understated. The appeal is in the restraint — an aged, still quality rather than anything showy.

The form. This is the Fan Lian Wu Xiang form — 梵莲无相 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. 100 ml is the classic gongfu size — comfortable for one drinker or two sharing small cups, and the volume most Chaoshan-style brewing was built around. Best suited to aged pu-erh, aged oolong and white tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 231, 100 ml, US$450. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.

Made by 刘秀华. 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

• Ziye Shipiao Yixing Zisha Teapot — Tianqingni Clay, 150 ml, $350
• Handmade Hand-Grip Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Duanni Clay, 100 ml, $450
• Handmade Hand-Grip Form Yixing Zisha Teapot — Tianqingni Clay, 65 ml, $500

Or browse every Tianqingni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.