My Zisha Teapots 我的紫砂壺收藏

[chin]

Some of the teapots I collected and using. Some are mass produced run of the mill type cost HK$100 or so, and some are from master artisans costed thousands of HK$.

[chin]

漢緣, 開四海, 降坡泥

This is the first tea pot I ever had that is craved with pictures. I subsequently bought 3 more from the same artisan. I have posted these pictures in a public tea forum and made a remark:

漢緣三號小弟的。我得到這個壺，是由一個很實用的理由開始的。幾個月前，看到標兄用小馬哥的“小行天”泡茶，出水12寸不散，強勁有力。細看之下，原來壺內有幾排很多個出水孔，而不是一般的7或9孔。一來茶葉塞不到出水孔，而來出來水壓也可能好一點。 於是我就想找個也是有幾排出水孔的壺。得到標兄提點，說可以看看“漢緣”。於是到3島壹行。正如汽油彈半仙兄所說：漢緣漢緣，一看即完。

漢緣 is a variation of a classic style 漢方. The artisan 開四海 created this few years ago, and decided in late 2008 not to make this design any more. Each pot is hand made but with a mold, or the so called 檔丕. See http://chinman.com/index.php?topic=58.0 #5 & #7. Once the teapot is shaped and dried, but before going to the kiln, 開四海 would write and engrave each pot with different pictures and Chinese phases.

Each teapot takes a few weeks from start to finish, and the artisans would start make 4 to 6 at the same time to save time. I was told that 開四海 can make about 100 teapots of different style each year.

開四海 started his career as a painter, and switch to making teapots after move to Yixing. In some sense he was an outsider, as compare to other Zisha artisan who has family history of making Zisha wares like teapots, thus have stable access to the best zisha clays.


First picture taken on 8-Mar-08 after I acquired the pot.



The following pictures taken in mid-Apr 08.









The "certificate" from the pot maker.





More pictures taken in late 2008










On 9-Sep-08, a few friends who had this teapot meet up to take the following group pictures. Due to the lighting conditions there, but mostly my lack of technique in proper adjustment, the colours are off by quite a bit.

[chin]

小秦權, 高峰, 降坡泥

I bought this from a Taiwanese tea web site in 2004 for HK$700. I didn't know anything about the artisan. I liked this pot because it's small (~100cc) and the clay seems to be good quality. Too bad the pot cover edge was very think, and my now chipped a lots.

In Nov 08 I got the chance to go to Yixing and watch him at work. 高峰 was in the process of making a square shaped teapot, and it took him 40 mins just to make the 4 legs and part of the shoulder. I have video taped the visit and uploaded some clips to youtube. (Make sure to "watch in high quality".)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQdFaannR18
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M6P3KJYwKRQ

This teapot was used solely to make certain tea - the traditionally baked Tie Guan Yin 焙火鐵觀音. I don't drink this kind of tea much these days and thus not using this teapot much.

高峰's style and technique has matured much and generated good followings in the market. The last time I check, his new pots would cost thousands.

[chin]

天和壺，開四海， 底槽青

The second 開四海 I bought, originally for my father who wanted a bigger teapot. But once I show this to him, he thought this was too small for him. So now this pot is in my collection.

I really liked the Chinese phase engraved on this pot. However the shape of the teapot is not very good at allowing the tea leaves to open up. Perhaps good to make tea with smaller tea leaves.

The zisha clay was very good and this pot can really force the tea flavour out (很好的逼茶力). But this pot is a bit too big (~250cc) for my daily use. So now it's in my office and used when I have friends coming over for tea.








The certificate is another painting by Kai.

[chin]

潘壺, 蔣翔宇, 朱泥

I bought this during my trip to Yixing. See 宜興見聞 at http://chinman.com/index.php?topic=58.0

We visited the shop of Jian Xiang Yu 蔣翔宇 a few times during the trip. I never bought any pot from him before, but heard good thing about him from my friends. His pots are generally using good quality Zisha clays and priced reasonably at about RMB1300 or so.

蔣翔宇 no longer make teapots.  He uses a few artisans on project basis. Jiang supplies the material (the Zisha clays), controls the quality and sells the pots. His wife's family is also in the Zisha business. In short he's focused on the more "scalable" size of the business.

I bought this pot because it's small enough at about 120cc. I also have friends who has pots made from the same clay and the effect is very good, especially for making old tea. This design is called 潘壺.

The 3rd pic is the detailed view showing the special characteristics of Zhu Ni (朱泥, Deep Red Clay). 朱泥 has very high iron content, thus pots made from 朱泥 are a bit heavier and able to retain heat very well for making tea. The small irregular shape black dots are the iron residues.

Another characteristics of 朱泥 is its high contraction ratio before and after the kiln - the result of the contraction is the very visible "winkles" on the surface.

[chin]

春語, 施小馬監製/開四海刻字/儲淩雲手工, 降坡泥

今天收到了這非常特別的紫砂壺。心情興奮。馬上拍照並寫下紀錄。

特別的地方是這非賣品是由三位紫砂工藝家一起做的。這壺是施小馬監製參與設計造型，制作由儲淩雲擔任，並由開四海刻上『壺隨緣至』。壺底款『小馬監製』，並書『春語 該壺共計制作十八只 此壺為十八之十 淩雲』。九號是在Thomas手上。

事源上年十一月到宜興時，得到開四海等的熱情招待，並安排到紫砂大師施小馬工作室參觀和看示範。當我和朋友知道施小馬一家和開四海儲淩雲夫婦會到香港遊覽時，便盡地主之宜幫忙安排酒店交通參觀等。想不到事前他們已經準備了這禮物。

施小馬爺爺施金廷在清末民國已經是有名的紫砂師傅。施小馬現在已是極具名氣的紫砂大師，比較新的作品好像是方器為主，而且他的壺都是自己一手一腳做的，沒有用代工。我自己還沒有任何施小馬的壺，主要是因為我自己喜歡用小壺但現在大師們一般都只做大壺，二來他的壺市價已是很多萬元。開四海是施小馬徒弟之一。開四海原來是習國畫的，所以他的壺一般都有他的字和畫。我有四個開四海的壺。儲淩雲是開四海的太太，作品線條都比較幼細。

對我來說，這壺的紀念意義遠比實用意義大。不過今天我還是用這壺開泡了98紅票綠大樹。這壺泥料是高目數降坡泥，5排14個出水孔每個差不多兩毫米直徑，出水口小力度非常夠，出水12寸不散。空壺170cc，置茶後130cc。從實用角度是非常好用的壺。逼茶力有待觀察。


Spring Whisper by Shi Xiao Ma, Kai Si Hai, Chu Ling Yun

I received this teapot today. It was a very special gift and a product of collaboration by three Zisha artisans. This pot was design and partly made by master Zisha artisan Shi Xiao Ma, caligraphy engraving by Kai Si Hai, and the pot made by Chu Ling Yun. They made only 18 pots and I have no 10. Thomas has no 9.

In Nov 08, I got the chance to visit Yixing where Zisha art originated. Kai and his friends were showing us around, demonstrated to us how various part of Zisha teapots were done, and arranged for us to visit the workshop of Shi Xiao Ma. So when we leanrt that Shi and his family, and the Kai couple, is visiting Hong Kong, we arranged the local receiption parties, hotels, transportations, etc... And they have prepared this special teapot as a token of gratitude.

Shi, in early 50 now, is a third generation Zisha artisan. He's a very well know and respected master artisan now, famous for his square designs, no nonsense approach, and insistence on doing everything himself (instead of farming out part of the works to other people, or worse selling his name as a brand.) I do not have any pot by Shi partly because I prefer practical small teapots around 100-150cc but most master artisans are only making large 300+ cc teapots. Also Shi's teapots are now priced at tens of thousands RMB.

Kai was trained in caligraphy and Chinese painting. He moved to Yixing in mid-90s and started to develop his own style very well in the last few years. I have a few of his teapots. Chu Lin Yun is his wife and an excellent Zisha artisan in her own right.

The Spring Whisper is a very nice teapot not only as a memory of the occasion, but also for its very practical design, and fine craftmanship.

[chin]

I have not updated the pictures here for a long time. The price of nice pots like the above had gone through the roof and more than doubled in the last 3 years or so.

Anyway, I ordered a set of 原礦紫砂壺 from tea forum, and these are 2 of the 4 in the set. Cost for the whole set RMB1800.

The pictures are taken with a small digicam, so quality is not so good. To illustrate the scale, the poker chips on the side is 39mm in diameter.

[chin]

仿鼓，天青泥

流行的壺款，稀有的泥料。

See 朱澤偉對原礦和泥料的執著

[chin]

行方智圓，降波泥

開四海，儲凌雲夫婦合作手工製。
提樑壺很難做的。這是現在我收藏最貴的壺。