Handmade Shuiping Yixing Zisha Teapot – Zhuni Clay, 80ml

This is a 80 ml shuiping teapot in Zhuni Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 水平.

The clay. Very high in iron, fired to a bright vermilion, and dense enough to ring when the lid is tapped. Zhuni shrinks by up to twenty percent in the kiln, so a large share of every batch cracks — the Yixing saying is that a zhuni pot without wrinkles is not zhuni. Dense and low-porosity, so it holds aroma at the surface instead of absorbing it. This is the clay that makes fragrant teas smell like themselves.

The form. The Shuiping form (水平) dates to the late Ming to early Qing, attributed to the Hui Mengchen lineage. Built for Chaoshan gongfu tea. When the pot is bathed in hot water it floats level — hence the name. Light, small and one-handed. The standard fitting on a gongfu tray, and almost always made in zhuni.

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 80 ml this is a solo pot. One person, short infusions, and the small volume means you can push a good leaf through eight or ten steeps without ever brewing more than you drink. Best suited to oolong, dancong and green tea.

This pot. Catalogue no. 328, 80 ml, US$240. 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 Fanggu Yixing Zisha Teapot — Zhuni Clay, 70 ml, $300
• Handmade Ling Zhu Yixing Zisha Teapot — Zhuni Clay, 110 ml, $240
• Handmade Longdan Yixing Zisha Teapot — Zhuni Clay, 60 ml, $300

Or browse every Zhuni pot · the full Yixing catalogue.