Delighted Times- Jianshui Teapot | Black Clay with Traditional Inlay Technique 110 ml.

STYLE

A small, rounded Xishi teapot featuring a tea-themed motif with plum blossoms and calligraphy. The design is related to tea culture, and the inscription reads “LiXi,” meaning joyful, pleasant time. Both the image and the text refer to the joyful moments that tea brings.

The Xishi teapot is the most famous teapot shape, originally modeled after the breast of the famous concubine during the Ming dynasty. Xu Youquan (17th century) worked based on old copper and bronze sacrificial vessels, and he also created many natural forms inspired by flowers, bamboo, melons, elephants, and other natural phenomena. His most famous creation is the Xishi shape, which evokes the curves and charm of Xi Shi, a Chinese beauty ideal who lived in the 6th century BCE. Since then, it has become the most frequently made and beloved Yixing teapot shape worldwide.

Jianshui is one of the four famous ceramic cities in China, mainly due to the artistic processing of coloured clays from local clay mines and the related ceramic crafts, as well as Yixing.  The township is in Yunnan, not far from Kunming. Jianshui pots, which are more robust than the Yixing pots, are thrown on a potter’s wheel. The unglazed pots, which shine brightly on the outside, are ‘breathing’ tea vessels with high heat retention. Their colour is usually eggplant black, rust brown, but they can also be light grey or yellow. These antique style vessels are “hard as iron, shiny as water, silky as jade, tinkling like a stone”.

MATERIAL

Jianshui Zitao

DIMENSIONS

Capacity: 110 ml.

USAGE

Sheng puer, Green oolong, Chinese green tea, White tea

SIGNATURE/ARTIST

Wang Chou (1977), 2025

PROVENANCE

Original from the artist

CONDITION

New