Monday 2 June 2014

Dragon egg pot

This pot is called the dragon egg pot, sound very funny (name translated from mandarin).

Actually the design of this pot was created by Shi Dabin, a well known potter from the Ming dynasty.
It was said that the founding father of the Yixing pot Gong Chun had 3 disciples. One of his disciples was known as Shi Peng. Shi Dabin was the son of Shi Peng. Even though Shi Dabin learned the Yixing craft from his father, his skill in teapot making was even better than his father. Shi Dabin's pots are highly valuable for historical reason. Quite a number of his pots are on display in the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong, in the collection of KS Lo ( a renown collector).


In this dragon egg pot, the sprout is triangular shape. Coupled with the conical shape of the body, the pot looks uniquely different. The sad thing about this pot is that the potter did not leave behind his name on the pot. Only the characters China Yixing were inscribed at the base. With that mark, I can assume that the pot was probable made in the 80s or earlier as potters normally did not put the name on the pot.

The material used for this pot is of a high quality brown zisha and the workmanship is of a high standard. Hence the potter must be an experienced craftsman.

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