{"product_id":"zisha-teapot-zi-ni-mei-zhuang-367","title":"Handmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot – Zini Clay, 220ml","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a 220 ml sculptural form teapot in Zini Clay, fully handmade, made in Dingshu, Yixing. Its Chinese name is 梅桩.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe clay.\u003c\/strong\u003e Zini is the foundational Yixing clay — purple-brown, mined at Huanglong Mountain, and the most forgiving of all the ores. It is highly plastic, notably porous, and develops a patina faster than most clays. Even-tempered and genuinely versatile. It rounds out a brew rather than sharpening it, which makes it a safe first pot for someone who drinks several kinds of tea.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe form.\u003c\/strong\u003e The subject here is plum stump — in Chinese decorative vocabulary, flowering before anything else does. 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow it was made.\u003c\/strong\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize and tea.\u003c\/strong\u003e 220 ml is a sharing pot. It suits a table of four or more, or a long single steep of something you want to drink slowly over an afternoon. Best suited to pu-erh, black tea and aged oolong.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis pot.\u003c\/strong\u003e Catalogue no. 367, 220 ml, US$700. Photographed individually — the images show the pot you receive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade by an independent Dingshu potter working outside the titled-master system. We do not attach a name we cannot verify.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eClay\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eZini Clay (紫泥)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eForm\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSculptural Form (仿生器)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eCapacity\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e220 ml\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eCraft\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFully handmade (全手工)\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eOrigin\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDingshu, Yixing, Jiangsu, China\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth\u003eCatalogue no.\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e367\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew to zisha? Read \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/journal\/how-to-season-a-yixing-teapot\"\u003ehow to season a Yixing teapot\u003c\/a\u003e before first use.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eSimilar teapots\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/zisha-teapot-qing-duan-ni-chu-chen-he-piao-404\"\u003eHandmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot\u003c\/a\u003e — Qing Duanni Clay, 175 ml, $740\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/zisha-teapot-lao-zi-ni-seng-mao-363\"\u003eHandmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot\u003c\/a\u003e — Aged Zini Clay, 160 ml, $1500\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"\/products\/zisha-teapot-zi-ni-ban-ge-xi-gua-302\"\u003eHandmade Sculptural Form Yixing Zisha Teapot\u003c\/a\u003e — Zini Clay, 150 ml, $450\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eOr browse \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/zini-yixing-teapots\"\u003eevery Zini pot\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/yixing-zisha-teapots\"\u003ethe full Yixing catalogue\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yihu Yike","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45837659897903,"sku":"YHYK-0367","price":700.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/8676\/5615\/files\/sculptural-form-zini-clay-yixing-zisha-teapot-367-01.jpg?v=1787072160","url":"https:\/\/yixingzishateapot.com\/products\/zisha-teapot-zi-ni-mei-zhuang-367","provider":"Yihu Yike","version":"1.0","type":"link"}