Polished teapots of Yixing

Yixing teapots were sent to Thailand in the 18th and 19th century to be polished to achieved a high gloss finish on the teapots. There teapots have a characteristic feature, certain parts of the body is cladded in metals such as gold, silver and brass. Such parts are usually the sprout, the rim of the cover and the mouth of the teapot. The reason to do this is to protect the teapots from accidental damage when they are in use. Some teapots come with top handles which are always made in metal. Some of these teapots were made of the king of Thailand and they bear the king's name. Others were made for imperial use and they have the imperial seals on them.

Alan museum has there of such polished teapots collected during the 90s. One with gold cladding, one with silver cladding and handle, and the last one with brass cladding and handle.

This gold cladded teapot is for imperial household

The silver handle teapot

This pot is brass cladded for imperial household