These early teapots of Yixing factory have a common characteristic, they usually bear the mark of "China Yixing" at the bottom of the teapots. Some may have the name of the potters engraved at the back of the teapot lids. There are some teapots with no name of the potters at the back of the covers. So it is impossible to track who the potters were. During those days, teapots were made for the sole reason of brewing tea and not as collectible items of art and craft. There was no desire to promote the potters. As a result, some very good Yixing teapots had no potters' names on them. It was also against national interest to promote of glorify individual potter.
Of course today, people collect Yixing teapots for many reasons. Apart from using the teapots as utensils to brew tea, they also hope that one day their teapots can fetch a good price because of the fame of the potters. Every collector knows that although the Yixing clay is expensive, the real value of a teapot depends a great deal on the fame of the potter who crafted it.
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| A good teapot with no name on it |
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| This one had the potter's name on its lid |
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| This teapot with "China Yixing" mark at the bottom |
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