Jun ware ( 鈞窯) is a type of Chinese porcelain ware originated from the Song dynasty some 800 years ago. This ware uses straw ash to make the glaze which give the ware its unique blue glaze suffused with white. The ware was first created during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1126) to the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).
The Jun glaze included blue-gray, sky-blue, moon-white, red and purple, the most prized have crimson or purple splashes. Varying the temperature of the kilns changed colour tints, a technique known as yaobian. The foot of the later period ware is usually unglazed and brown; the rim of bowls can also be brown or greenish where the glaze is thinner. Song period examples display a careful finishing with glaze inside the foot.
The art of producing the Jun ware was not lost but kept alive by craftsmen who inherited the techniques and skills of this art from their ancestors. Today masters of Jun ware can produce the artifacts with such high standard that their ware can match or even surpass those produced by their ancestors. This is evident from the Jun vase recently made by a master. This vase, after firing, has a unique glaze that resembles the natural mountain scene with a misty surrounding.
Although Song dynasty Jun ware is high sough after, the newly created masterpieces are equally sough after by collectors who like the Jun ware. The reason is simple, it is not easy to create a masterpiece as most Jun pieces were rejected by their creators due to imperfections in the glaze after firing.
A masterpiece Jun ware
Another Jun vase has a greenish glaze after it was successfully fired in the kiln. Both these vases are treasured by the master who created them. He would not sell them even though there are buyers willing to offer good money to own the Jun ware.
Some Jun pieces produced during the Song and Yuan dynasties.
The purple mangosteen is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and Indonesia. It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, and it also grows in tropical South American countries such as Colombia and in India, where the tree has been introduced. The tree grows from 6 to 25 m (20–82 ft) tall.The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, and somewhat fibrous, with an inedible, deep reddish-purple coloured rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.
The juvenile mangosteen fruit, first appears as pale green or almost white in the shade of the canopy. As the fruit enlarges over the next two to three months, the exocarp colour deepens to darker green. During this period, the fruit increases in size until its exocarp is 6–8 centimetres (2.4–3.1 in) in outside diameter, remaining hard until a final, abrupt ripening stage.
The subsurface chemistry of the mangosteen exocarp comprises an array of polyphenols, including xanthones and tannins that assure astringency which discourages infestation by insects, fungi, plant viruses, bacteria and animal predation while the fruit is immature. Colour changes and softening of the exocarp are natural processes of ripening that indicates the fruit can be eaten and the seeds have finished developing.
The edible endocarp of the mangosteen is botanically defined as an aril with the same shape and size as a tangerine 4–6 centimetres in diameter, but is white. The circle of wedge-shaped arils contains 4–8, rarely 9segments, the larger ones harbouring apomictic seeds that are unpalatable unless roasted.
Often described as a subtle delicacy, the arils bear an exceptionally mild aroma, quantitatively having about 1/400th of the chemical constituents of fragrant fruits, explaining its relative mildness.
The Queen of fruits, mangosten
The inside of mangosteen
The fruit mangosteen is seldom appeared in Yixing teapot design. The reason could be that this fruit is not popular in China and many potters have no idea how the teapot will look like when crafted into the shape of a mangosteen. As you know, most potters would rather like to copy existing teapot design or modify somebody's design.
The King of fruits, Durian
However, there is a potter by the name of Zhou Juefang (周菊芳), a student of Prof Pan, created her very own mangosteen teapot. The teapot looks very cute and unique. Instead of the traditional knob on the lid, a stalk with some petals sit on top of the lid. This design of the lid will immediately remind people that the fruit is a mangosteen. For people who live in this part of the world where mangosteens are aplenty, it is a nostalgic experience to have a mangosteen teapot to brew tea. Interestingly, people here also like another tropical fruit called durian locally. Durian fruits which have a pungent smell (to some people) are considered the King of fruits here. Then mangosteen fruits which have a subtle taste and mild fragrance are considered the queen of fruits. Durians are by nature fruits that can
cause heatiness but mangosteens on the other hand have cooling effects. So these two fruits can really compliment each other.
Mangosteen teapots by Zhou Juefang
周菊芳
性别：女
证书编号：320223670816158
类别:工艺美术师
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash native to North America. It typically has a thick, orange or yellow shell, creased from the stem to the bottom, containing the seeds and pulp. Pumpkins are widely grown for commercial use, and are used both in food and recreation.
Pumpkins generally weigh 9–18 lbs (4–8 kg) with the largest (of the species C. maxima) capable of reaching a weight of over 75 lbs (34 kg).The pumpkin varies greatly in shape, ranging from oblate to oblong. The rind is smooth and usually lightly ribbed.Although pumpkins are usually orange or yellow, some fruits are dark green, pale green, orange-yellow, white, red and gray.
Pumpkins are very versatile in their uses for cooking. Most parts of the pumpkin are edible, including the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and even the flowers. In the United States and Canada, pumpkin is a popular Halloween and Thanksgiving staple.Homemade pumpkin purée can serve the same purpose.
When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, baked, steamed, or roasted. In its native North America, it is a very important, traditional part of the autumn harvest, eaten mashedand making its way into soups and purees. Often, it is made into pie, various kinds of which are a traditional staple of the Canadian and American Thanksgiving holidays. In Canada, Mexico, the United States, Europe and China, the seeds are often roasted and eaten as a snack.
Prof Pan's brown pumpkin set
Yixing potters, past and present, have created many teapot designs based on pumpkin. This shows the popularity of pumpkin among the potters to put some artistic forms of pumpkin in the teapots they made. Of all the pumpkin teapots I have seen, I particularly like the one created by Prof Pan Chunfang of the Nanjing Academy of Art. Unlike other potters who like to make the pumpkin teapots with very regular segments and a smooth texture, Prof Pan created a pumpkin teapot which is in a way distorted in shape and the texture of the skin is rather rough. This truly reflects pumpkin as it appears in its natural form. He also created four cups that come with the teapot and these cups are also irregular in shape with a rough texture. The pumpkin teapots set thus becomes Prof Pan's masterpieces and had won him international acclaim. He made the teapots using the finest of Yixing zisha and the teapot comes in two colours, brown and red zisha. If you take a closer look at the teapot, you would admire Prof Pan's talent, creativity and mastery of teapot making skills. No wonder he was seconded to the Nanjing Academy of Art to be a professor running design and art courses to craftsmen who want to upgrade their skills and innovation in teapot designs.
The shape of this pot is interesting. It is a conventional round teapot but the shape shrinks vertically. It is like compressing it down vertically making it a bit shorter and fatter (a big waist). Although the design is unique, its capacity is quite small, very ideal for brewing very strong tea where one only sips a little at a time.
Very small teapot/cup is ideal to brew some special tea. This is especially true for old Shuisien tea ( a type of mountain tea from Fuzhou) where the tea is brewed into a deep black colour and one can only drink a bit at a time and the taste is good and aroma superb. Of course, one needs to master the tea brewing technique, otherwise, the fragrance and aroma can be lost.
This is an old pot made of fine zisha clay. It stands on 3 legs and at the base of the pot there is a China Yixing seal stamped on it.
The pot was probably made in the 70s. When I bought the pot from a shop in Chinatown in the late 80s, the shop keeper told me that it was around 20 years old. I like the pot as the clay is good and the design is unique. Moreover it is ideal for brewing my type of tea.
There are not many such pots around today as I did not see any around in the market in the 90s.
Do you know, there are people in China willing to bid millions of dollars for this Ming dynasty chicken cups during auctions. They are made during the chenhua period of the Ming dynasty some 600 years ago. These cups are very special as only a handful of them are around in this world, mostly in museums.
And I am using these cups to appreciate my cups of puerh tea. Really?
Just kidding.
To tell you the truth, they are not the real things.
I don't normally like quartz crystals as I have always thought that quartz is just a type of high-class glass with low intrinsic value, unlike diamonds, sapphires and rubies which are considered prized gems of the world.
However my opinion changes when I happen to see some beautiful rutilated quartz crystals in the internet. These crystals have needle-like inclusions inside the stones that shine brilliantly under the torch light. When I research further, I found that these rutilated crystals are by no means cheap. Some of the best ones (those containing golden yellow inclusions) are sold at a few hundred dollars per carat.
The needle-like inclusions, mainly titanium dioxide
This rutilated crystal ball is a gem in itself
The rutilated quartz crystals are also made into bracelets. The thread-like inclusions have different colours ranging from golden yellow to reddish brown. The metallic oxide appears as inclusions inside the crystal clear quartz. These thread-like inclusions (basically rutile which is titanium dioxide) enhances the beauty of the ordinary quartz crystals.
This bracelet consists of mini rutilated quartz balls
Some of the larger stones are carved into figurines with these long thread-like inclusions running along the carvings. They look magnificent when the inclusion are illuminated under the influence of light, the more inclusions the higher the value.
This carving is a prized gem due to its inclusions
This is a hugh rutilated quartz crystal ball
There is a collector in Taiwan who owns a huge rutilated crystal ball the size of a human head. He put it on a stand in his sitting room and the ball rotates around under strong light. As the ball rotates, one can see numerous thread-like inclusions that shine like golden needles inside the crystal ball. These shinny needles move around as the ball rotates and the sight is spectacular. One can never get tired looking at these sparkling needles that seem to float in space. What a way to relieve stress after a hard day's work at the office.
The thicker the rutile bands the higher the value of the stones
I have a citrine gem quality crystal over 57 carats bought many years ago from a shop.
My other collections, 2 bracelets of rutilated quartz crystal balls of golden and red needles inclusions.
I have a stone carving of lotus flower created from a piece of shoushan stone for sharing.
There is a bird carved in the midst of the flower searching for food. This yellowish stone with traces of white colour is of a furong variety of the shoushan stone.
Lotus flower is beautiful. It has broad leaves that float on water. The flower sprouts out from water, supported by tick stem. The roots grow on the mud below and is ideal for making the lotus soup. The lotus seeds is what we use as fillings for the moon cake we make to celebrate the moon cake festival.
Lotus flower has been a popular subject for painters for centuries. The world renown artist Monet even planted his own lotus flower in a pond in his garden where he indulged in his painting of the lotus flower. Chinese artists also painted this flower since ancient time. There is a phrase to describe a person's upright character like the lotus flower, coming out of dirty mud yet remained clean and pure.
Below is a brief write-up on lotus flower:
The roots of lotus are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, while the leaves float on top of the water surface or are held well above it. The flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimeters above the leaves. The plant normally grows up to a height of about 150 cm and a horizontal spread of up to 3 meters, but some unverified reports place the height as high as over 5 meters. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, while the showy flowers can be up to 20 cm in diameter.
Come and meet Andrew, the English jade carving master.
Andrew the British jade carving master
Andrew was a journalist working for the BBC. He once bought a jade piece from a shop in Thailand and was fascinated by its beauty and texture. He then developed a liking for everything in jade. When he was free, he would read up anything on jade. At the age of over 50, he left his job (due to stress) and went to Suzhou in search of a jade carving master to learn the art of jade carving from him. Although Suzhou does not produce jade, it is the place where jade carving masters practice the trade hundreds of years ago. As a result, Suzhou is famous for jade carving and the masters are all very skillful and well known in this part of the world.
Suzhou, a town renown for jade carving
When Andrew was in Suzhou, he went from one place to another in search for anyone who would teach him jade carving. Due to his age, no jade master would want to take him as a student to impart the skills of jade carving. In this country, most people learn jade carving at a very young age, maybe when they are below 20 years of age. At 60, most jade masters would retire due to poor eye sight and shaky hands. Although he was frustrated, Andrew did nor give up due to his love for jade craving. After more than half a year of trying, he finally found someone who was willing to teach him the art.
Andrew working on his jade
Initially it was tough for him as he could not speak the language and he was also slow due to his age. However, he persevered and continued to visit the teacher rain or shine. To survive, he took up a job to teach English to the locals. Meantime, he also worked very hard to acquire the language of the locals. Now, not only he could very well, he could also read and write the language of the locals. But to excel in the art of jade carving was no easy task for a foreigner like himself. Don't forget, the Chinese people learned this art hundreds of years ago and there were thousands and thousands of jade carving masters in China.
Andrew endured the hardship and his determination paid off. He was able to acquire some skills in the art of jade carving. Although he might not be as good as the Chinese masters, he was able to blend Western art and culture in his carving. He designed every piece of his carving according to his taste and desire. He did every thing himself from selecting the stone to the final step in polishing work.
One of his carving works
To monitor his progress, he often showed his art pieces to another renown master from Suzhou. He would get advice from this master and tried to improve his skills. His skills advanced further and he developed his own style in jade carving. He commented that he like jade carving so much that he would could not live one day without engaging in this art.
Andrew and his jade-master friend
At his workshop with his tools of the trade
Over the years, Andrew had created quite a lot of his jade carving pieces. He wanted to hold one solo exhibition in Shanghai and he was working towards this goal.
He even married a local and they lived happily in Suzhou, a place he now called home.
Andrew's jade piece, his own creation
Although I like jade carvings, I do not have the courage to take up jade carving, not to mention the daunting task of looking for a jade master willing to impart his skills. This is the reason why I admire Andrew's passion and determination to learn jade carving in a strange land from a strange master and he could not even speak his strange language. Against all odds, he succeeded in his dream. Most importantly, he integrated well to the society and he enjoyed a new lease of life doing the thing he enjoyed.
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