Fan Zaoda's ancient bell

Fan Zaoda (范早大) is a craftsmaster of Yixing.

Alans Museum has kept quite a few of his teapots. This particular one was modelled on an ancient oriental bell. It is made from the traditional purplish zisha clay and has a trapezium shape with sharp corners and edges, not a good design for engineering products. But then, this is a teapot for making tea; who on earth cares about stress concentration that may lead to eventual failure of an engineering component due to design faults.

 

Fan's bell shaped teapot

范早大 1966年2月生，宜兴紫砂工艺二厂工艺美术师。1983年进紫砂二厂，先从吴同芬学艺，后师从徐汉棠，在严格的基础训练下，逐渐夯实基本功，作品以传统造型为主，赋以新的创作构思，形成新旧和谐统一的格调，所制作的《龙旦壶》在“江苏省紫砂散文节”获二等奖。主要作品有《圣桃》、《南瓜》、《掇圆》等。