Chu Kexin

This is the teapot that I really treasure. It is the teapot made by Chu Kexin in the early years of his career. He was one of the seven pioneers in Yixing factory in the early 50s involving in the training and grooming of the next generation of teapot makers in China. He unselfishly passed his skills to the trainees at the factory who later became masters and grandmasters in the trade.

Life in the 40s and 50s was tough. As everybody was struggling to make a living, teapot makers also found it hard to survive. Since people were generally poor, who could afford the spare cash to indulge in tea drinking, let alone buying a teapot to brew tea. Hence Chu's teapots were not selling that well. I read in a book that he was so poor that he could not even afford the money to send his sick child to see a doctor. He tried to borrow money from his business associates but they were also not helpful. I even read about the incident that his wife had a tumour and needed immediate treatment. As he had no money to seek treatment for his wife, he began to operate on his wife (using a kitchen blade) to have the tumour removed. His wife must have been very lucky to survive from this crude surgery performed by him. During those difficult times, one must understand that one need to do anything just to survive and move on.

Video on the teapot made by Chu

 

Once the Yixing factory started its operation, life began to improve for Chu Kexin. He began to receive order for the teapots he made. The government also recognised his contribution and invite him and other talented craftsmen to the Capital. There he met his counterpart (by name sake) General Chu De. General Chu was instrumental in the war against the Japanese invaders and later the civil war for the independence of a new nation. In the Capital, Chu Kexin demonstrated his talent and skills by making a Yixing ware to showcase to the people of China the ancient Yixing pottery. His teapots also won international awards and accolades.

It is interesting to know how a potter learned and acquired the skills of teapot making during those years. As there was no factory, a person had to attach to a teapot master as an apprentice. He lived in the house of the master. As apprentice, he had to do all sorts of mundane work other than teapot making (something like cheap labour). This went on for many years until the master had decided to teach his apprentice some basic skills. If the master really liked his disciple, he then would teach him all the skills in teapot making, from mixing clay, beating clay all the way to achieve mastery of the subject. This could easily took more than ten years .

Chu Kexin started off as an apprentice as a young boy and stayed in his master's house, liked all the other apprentices of his time. He took on all sorts of manual work (without pay) in the house except making teapot. All that he could do was just to stand beside the master as he was making his teapots and attended to his needs. This went on for many years and the master had no indication when he would be teaching him some basic skills. There was also strict instruction that he was not allowed to make teapot on his own. However, opportunity came one day when his master went out to attend a wedding feast. He asked permission from the master's wife to make teapot on his own (he must have some basic skills after watching his master for several years). When permission was granted, he made some teapots using the clay left behind by the master. When the master came home at night (probably half drunk), he saw the beautiful teapots on his work bench. He was furious and asked who made those pots. Chu Kexin admitted that those pots were made by him with permission from his wife. Even tough the master secretly admired Chu's skills (don't forget he had not even started teaching Chu how to make pot), he was angry that Chu made teapots on his own without his permission. He took out a steel ruler and began beating Chu on his palm repeatedly until blood appeared. The young Chu cried and asked for forgiveness from his master. After that incident, the master then began to teach Chu the skills of teapot making. Of course, Chu learned and acquired the skills quickly as he was talented and smart. He then went on to become a master himself. However, he was kind to all his students and willingly imparted them his skills. This gained him a lot of respect from his peers.

I am very happy and proud to own a piece of this great man's work. This is not just a teapot that I collect, but a piece of history to remember a great potter such as Chu Kexin, his hard work and dedication both as a master and also as a teacher.

朱可心（1904-1986）,原名开张、凯长，宜兴紫砂名艺人，花货巨匠，一代宗师。生于宜兴蜀山31年受聘于宜兴陶瓷职业学校任技师、工场教员，作品"云龙鼎"获美国芝加哥博览会"特级优奖。56年被江苏省政府任命为技术辅导，先后授艺带徒数十人，名艺人有汪寅仙、李碧芳、潘春芳、许成权、范洪泉、谢曼伦、曹婉芬、王小龙、高丽君、史志鹏、倪顺生、李芹仙等。朱可心是现代紫砂史上德艺双馨的杰出人物，是大家公认的紫砂花货一代宗师。朱可心是近代紫砂历史最重要的一位人物，获得多项第一。第一个夺取了国际大奖：1932年朱可心作品《云龙鼎》获百年一度的美国芝加哥博览会"特级优奖".第一个在新中国成立后的1953年"全国美术工艺观摩大会上获得国内大奖。朱可心是第一个进入高等美术院校进修的紫砂艺人。1954年参加中央美术学院华东分院"民间美术工艺研究班",系统学习了有关工艺美术理论。第一个参与企业管理。1954年合作化后，即担任副主任负责技术管理。第一个开发设计了一种造型多种装饰的系列产品，满足了人们的需要。

Square and segmented teapots

Yixing teapots are made from a different method as compared to most conventional earthen wares which are  made using potter's wheels.  Yixing teapots are made by beating clay  into rectangular slabs which are cut into different segments for making the body, handle, sprouts and cover. These parts are then glued together to form the teapot. Round and cylindrical shapes are easier to make as the potter wrap the clay slab against a former to produce the shape. Globular shapes are achieved by continuous beating (Da shentong)  the top portion of the cylindrical body and eventually forming the globular shape. Great skills are required to make a perfect teapot that not only looks balance (the positions of the handle, sprout and cover) but has the elegance and beauty of an artistic masterpiece.


Da shentong method for round teapot

Segmented or square teapots are made by a slightly different method. The potter cuts the slab of clay into several pieces and later glue the edges of the clay together to form the square or segment teapots. The sprout, handle and cover are also in rectangular shapes which are not easy to fabricate. Even greater skills are required to make these teapots as dimensional accuracy is required to make sure that the shape is balance. During firing, warping is often a problem due to flat shapes in these pots which can create a lot of residual stresses during the firing process. As square or segmented teapots are not easy to make, it is often said that a square teapot is worth three round teapots.





Making a segmented teapot



Square and segmented teapots are elegant in their own right. There are some potters in Yixing which are famous in designing and making square teapots. Shi Xiaoma is one such potters who is gifted in creating challenging designs in the world of square pots.

I have in my collection some square and segmented teapots. There are shown below for sharing.

Teapot by Wu Yaoting

Segmented teapots by Kao Xiangjun & Xu Yuanming

Modified hexagonal shape by Fan Qihua
 

Hexagonal shape by Ding Yaping

Other shapes made by shaping and gluing slabs of clay other include the bell shaped teapots.

Pot by Fan Zoada

Pot by Xu Yuanming

Yet there is a slight modification in the square teapots where the edges are made round so that it is more comfortable to handle them. Many other shapes have since evolved from the simple 4 sided square teapots such as the pyramids and a combination of square and round shapes.

Ruyi teapot by Jiang Soonying

Pot by Xu Yuanming

 

And finally a teapot by Shi Xiaoma for sharing. This is a pot he made during the early years of his career at the factory, probably at the time when he was still an apprentice. The pot looks elegant and it makes a sound when water flows out its sprout.

施小马

施小马: 国家高级工艺美术师 高级工艺美术师、中国工艺美术学会会员，1954年生于江苏宜兴， 1998年作品《珏提壶》获“江苏省工艺美术陶瓷新品评比”一等奖；作品《扬帆壶》获“全国陶瓷专业设计评比”二等奖。1999年《垒壶》获“江苏省工艺美术陶瓷新品评比”二等奖。2000年作品《凌云壶》获“首届杭州西博会”银质奖；荣获“中国紫砂名人”称号。2001年作品《垒壶》获“杭州西博会”银质奖。

Collecting teapots

Experts in tea drinking often say that you need one teapot to brew one type of tea and you cannot mix different teas in the same teapot. Even so, 3 or 4 teapots are enough if you like to drink a variety of Chinese teas. So, you don't really need to possess a lot of teapots. But then for some tea drinkers, they fall in love with teapots easily just like the way they appreciate their tea. For them, it is fun to collect teapots for the sake of  admiring them. This is because teapots come with many different colours and sizes, creative designs and excellent workmanship (if potters are craft-masters in the trade) it is indeed interesting in that the artistic designs of teapots not only serve as art pieces but as utensils for every day's use, brewing tea. The amazing thing is that these pots appreciate in value over the years.

Needless to say, one can get addicted if one starts to collect teapots. There are just so many different designs to choose from and so many potters to check out with. It is no easy task for beginners as homework and research need to be carried out if you really want to collect some good stuff. If not, you will be paying school fees, as they normally said if you got cheated.

I started collecting teapots in the 80s. During those years, good teapots could be found everywhere, if you could spot them as they were like pearls hidden in hay (A Cantonese proverb). Although I did pay some school fees, but luckily the sum is small and I managed to recover from my mistakes. Over the years of my hunting, I managed to acquire a sizeable collection.