An Unknown potter

Many years ago, Alans Museum acquired a small teapot made by an unknown potter. This particular teapot design is known as the Pan Pot, teapots commissioned by a well known family by the name of Pan SC during the era of the Republic. The teapot is professionally made and is ideal for kungfu tea. However, a check on the name of the potter on the Who's who list of Yixing yielded no results. Probably the teapot is made by an ordinary worker. Anyway, the teapot is quite a pleasant teapot for brewing tea.

Pan Pot by Chen Yajun 陈亚君

A few days ago, a check on the latest list of Yixing potters 2013, it is found that the potter's name appeared in the list. The potter is a lady by the name of Chen Yajun (陈亚君). She has just been promoted with the title craftsman (工艺美术员) in teapot making (制壶). It seems that to receive this title, a potter must have a minimum of 8 years experience in the trade and sat and passed an examination. Once the potter has achieved this status, his/her teapots will command a higher price, up to ten times more than one without this status. Apart from this title, there are titles such as craftsmaster, senior craftsmaster, research senior craftsmaster and finally the grandmaster's status. As a result, all potters in Yixing strive hard to improve their skills, upgrade their knowledge and techniques so as to move up the rank. They know once they are famous, their hard work will be rewarded. News of grandmasters' work receive record breaking auction price is not uncommon. Most of the teapots by the late Gu Zingzhou were auctioned for over 10 million yuans.

 

Do you know, at the national level according to 2013 statistics, there are 2972 potters registered as craftsmen, 747 potters registered as assistant craftsmasters, 467 potters registered as craftsmasters, 112 potters registered as senior craftsmasters, 86 potters registered as research senior craftsmasters and 10 potters registered as national grand masters. At the provincial level, there are 16 registered craftsmen, 26 registered assistant craftsmasters, 21 registered craftsmasters, 1 registered as senior craftsmaster and 12 provincial grand masters. Detail listing as to which potter is in what rank can be found online.

 

A potter in Yixing is often asked this question (by customers or would be vendors), "Is your name in the Yixing potter list?" Most potters whose names are not in the list would answer back, "But..., you must look at the clay I used and the workmanship of the teapots I made." Ultimately, in teapot business, a potter's name and fame do decide the value of a teapot.

One design two potters

The picture here shows two identical teapots made by Yixing factory workers in the early 80s. The teapots are made from brown zisha clay of a very high quality.

Teapots by senior masters of Yixing

The teapots are made by joining flat pieces of well beaten zisha clay together. This method of making teapot is different from the conventional method of beating the clay on a small turn-table to produce the round teapot. Segmented teapots are difficult to make as they require precision in cutting and sticking the flat pieces of clay together. Another problem encountered during firing is that the teapots may warp due to shrinkage.

Another special thing above the teapots above is that they were made by two different potters. Both are now senior craftsmasters and their pots are not easy to come by. They are Kao Xiangjun (高湘君) and Xu Yuanmin (徐元明). Both are senior masters attached to the Yixing Research Institute.

Wild 野生 puerh tea

Do you know why puerh tea made from old trees or the so-called wild (野生) puerh can command a premium price over the other puerh tea?

The answer is in the trees this type of puerh is harvested. Generally the older the trees the better the tea. Why old trees produce good puerh tea. The reason is that old trees produce huge leaves which are essentially good to produce high quality puerh tea. How old are these trees? In certain part of Yunnan (especially the Panchang district in Yunnan), there are many old puerh trees that grow in the wild (not cultivated). The age of these trees ranges from 500 to more than a thousand years old. Generally any trees older than 500 years are considered good for high quality puerh tea. To harvest the tea, the locals have to climb up the trees to plug the tea leaves. That is why there is a popular saying (one of 18 strange things in Yunnan), it is not a surprise to see old ladies climbing up trees in Yunnan ('cos they are tea harvesters).

Alans Museum has a collection of some of these wild puerh tea. It is made in the year 2004 in the form of bricks. This tea is considered the unfermented version (green puerh) of puerh tea which requires a longer period of storage. However, the tea at present is still drinkable and its colour has turned from greenish to slightly brownish. Obviously with age this tea will get better and better.

Wild puerh tea bricks

Manufactured in 2004

Another puerh wild tea made in 2001

Big pot with plum decoration

Bamboo, pine and plum have been used in the design of teapots. Potters skillfully add in the features of these things and blend them well onto the teapot they designed. Sometimes, you can see the teapot body is made of a section of bamboo. Sometimes, there is a miniature pine tree or plum tree on the cover. There is also some pine or plum branches that connect the sprouts and the body.

In this teapot featured here, one will see the use of plum to decorate the teapot. The original design was created by Zhu Kexin in the early 50s or 60s. His idea of designing this teapot was to use the blossom of plum to signify to arrival of spring. This particular teapot design was well received by the public and many potters have over the years copy and make this type of teapot.

Arrival of Spring Teapot

Good old puerh bricks

Apart from collecting teapots, Alans Museum has over the years, collected quite some old and aged puerh tea. As teapots are made sole for the appreciation of tea, it is meaningless to have good teapots but no quality tea to appreciate it with. It is said that the more you use your Yixing teapots to brew tea, the better they become in terms of value and texture. Of course, it is also said that a teapot should only be used to brew only one type of tea. This is because of the minute porosities in the Yixing clay that can absorb the fragrance of the tea. Over the many years of using the Yixing teapot for that particular tea, it is also said that if you just simply pour hot water into the teapot, you can still of good tea coming out of it. Amazing, isn't it.

 

Good old bricks of the late 70s

Here is some good quality puerh tea made in the late 70s. You can tell its age by looking at the thickness of the bricks, they kind of got thicker over the years. When hot water is poured into a teapot containing this tea, one can straight away smell the unique aroma of aged puerh tea. The taste is equally smooth and pleasant to the throat. Usually this characteristic features of puerh tea can only be acheieved over many years of storage of good quality puerh tea under proper environmental conditions. No wonder aged puerh tea can command a premium price in the tea market. New puerh tea is usually harsh and difficult to swallow. It requires at least 10 years of storage to refine its character. If you can keep it for half a century, definitely it will become a gem in its own right. It reminds us of the good old brandy and whisky, the older the better.

Teapot of simple design

This is a teapot of simple design. It works well as a teapot with a big rim and a big lid, easy to put in tea leaves when making tea. It is also very easy to remove used tea leaves after tea drinking. The original design was created by a potter who lived during the Chinese Republic era.  It is probably made in the 60s or 70s with the mark "China Yixing" at the bottom of the teapot. Although the teapot is simple, the workmanship is good and the clay used is of very good quality zisha clay. This is not uncommon during those early days in Yixing when good clay was plentiful and potters got the best clay at their disposal. As we know, potters need not have to specify that they used original Yixing clay to make teapots as there were no records of people using imitation clay during those times. When we bought the teapots form Yixing, undoubtedly the clay is Yixing Zisha clay.

Teapot of the 60s & 70s

Nowadays, the potters in Yixing have to specify to their customers that they use original Yixing clay in their works so as to distant themselves from others who use imitation clay or worst still clay that contain chemicals to boost the colour of their wares. If you happen to see some teapots selling at under 10 dollars, please do not buy them them as Zisha clay won't come so cheap. Moreover the cost of making a teapot is very much higher. Hence, cheap teapots are made using improper imitation clay that may be harmful for making tea due to the chemicals they contain (to boost the colour of the teapots).

Xu Yuanmin's cylindrical pot

Here is another teapot made by Xy Yuanmin, senior craftsmaster of Yixing. This teapot shapes like a cylinder and is made of red zisha clay. I have no idea why it is shaped like that but for its size it is sure good to brew a big pot of tea for a group of six to eight persons. The texture of the teapot is slightly granular, typical of the zisha clay which contains sand particles. The teapot is professionally made as can be seen by the sprout and handle which are at the same level of the teapot body with the lid removed. This is the basic requirement for all traditional teapot designs. Before the potter fixed in the sprout and handle, he would normally put a ruler across the teapot for subsequent alignment of the sprout and handle. The name Xu Yuanmin was engraved at the bottom of the teapot.

Big cylindrical pot by Xu Yuanmin

姓名：徐元明
性别：男
职称：国家高级工艺美术师
出生年月：1964-10-24

 

1983年进紫砂二厂，师从王振国学艺，后调到研究所又随徐汉棠大师学习设计及制壶技艺，进步迅速，1986年即获无锡市工艺造型设计先进奖。近年来，刻苦钻研紫砂传统技艺，作品日益成熟，并以制作松、竹、梅见长。在传统技艺上力求变化创新，富有时代气息，技法俊秀细腻，逐渐形成独特的风格。代表作品有《挚友三陶》、《大圆僧帽壶》、《圣桃大提壶》均为台湾、香港知名企业所收藏。

Teapot by Xu Yuanmin 徐元明

Xu Yuanmin, a senior craftsmaster of Yixing, is a teapot maker who likes to incorporate new designs and innovative ideas in the teapots he made. He is currently attached to the Yixing research institute.

Alans Museum has a number of his teapots acquired in the early 1990s, at a time when he was still an apprentice of the factory. This is another teapot by Xu made in the early years. This particular teapot is made of red zisha and the name Xu Yuanmin was engraved at the bottom.

Teapot by Xy Yuanmin 徐元明

徐元明，国家级高级工艺师，1964年生于江苏宜兴，以制作松、竹、梅壶见长。在传统技艺上力求变化创新，富有时代气息，技法俊秀细腻，有独特鲜明的风格。