09 September 2008

Yummy pear

This is my 60’s Zhu Ni Ming Zhi Zhai Pear-shaped Xia Pin (Small) Yixing Teapot. It’s a really long name for such a short pot.

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped Teapot

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped TeapotI got it a year or so ago from Guang. When I opened the parcel, the pot was cleaned with no tea stains. Now I use this yixing quite often with big leaf raw pu-erh, so today the pot is seasoned quite well. On these pictures I want to demonstrate, how it changed over the time and why I like it so much.

But first, the teapot facts
Clay: sanded zhu ni
Spout: single holed
Bottom seal: Ming Zhi Zhai. "Zhai" means a scholar's study room. "Ming Zhi" means "to reveal, to make clear my aspiration/ambition/will", so together it could mean "I Find My Ambition In The Study Room"
Year of making: 60's
Size: 130cc
Tea: young sheng
Use: quite often, at least once a week

It’s a lovely pear-shaped teapot, with few limitations. Because of single hole spout I use it with young raw pu-erh with bigger whole leaves, because the teapot do not have strainer and I do not use a separate strainer. Too broken pu-erh, like the samples leave too much mess in my teacup. So this teapot is dedicated to better quality pu-erh only!

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped Teapot

In these pictures you can see how the teapot changed over the last year. The hole in bottom part of teapot show the original clay – since I use a tea tray the teapot does not stand in tea, so the bottom remains always dry. I do not want to season my pots in artificial ways, so there will be probably always be visible the original clay.

Please click the picture with bottom seal; you will see the big difference in look of seasoned clay and the look of unseasoned one. The pictures were not altered or color enhanced in any way, they were taken under natural sunlight.

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped Teapot

The oils in tea gave my teapot a very shiny look; they enhance the original color of teapot making it bright orange. Also, the sanded zhu ni clay shows a very interesting texture. And the pot is shiny! Just look at this picture.

Even if it does not look like original zhu ni clay because of sand, it still possesses it’s qualities but the durability is greatly increased. I had once a true zhu ni teapot but it cracked when I was careless for a moment and I poured too hot water into it. That moment I felt like my heart cracked a bit too.

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped Teapot

I believe that most important qualities of teapot are:

  • clay quality
  • usability
  • esthetic value

The clay of this teapot is good, solid with high-pitched knocking sound. The usability is great too – the lid fits tight and well, the pot pours swift with beautiful flow. And the beauty of this simple teapot is hidden in its details – in the lid, the handle, the spout.

60's Zhu Ni Pear-shaped Teapot

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pot! Not to be rude, but can you tell us what the cost of the pot was? I imagine a '60s pot was not cheap (but maybe still good value!).

Why did you choose an older pot? How many pots do you own? (I own too many but somehow they still continue to increase in number...)

Thanks for your posts.

TokyoB

toki said...

Most certainly... you are In Love : ) happy marriage - Tok

Tuo Cha Tea said...

Hi TokyoB,

I had over 20 pots, but there were some I had not used, so I decided to give most of them to a local tea house. Now I have about 12 pots I use at home and at my office.
And the price of that was about $300 - it's and expensive one, but I do not want to depart with it soon. And it even wasn't my most expensive one :-)

And Toki, my girlfriend was giving me 'the strange look' when I persuaded her about a tong of pu-erh, that 'we must take good care of my little pu-erh baby'. But she is used to that, fortunately.

T.

~ Phyll said...

I'm glad this lovely teapot found a good home. In addition to being old and seasoned, I can't imagine the distance it had traveled in all ~50 years to finally reach you in Slovakia.

Salsero said...

Beautiful pot. I love the slightly wrinkled "skin."

eileen said...

Since you got this beautiful pot from Guang, I thought I would tell you that I called Irene to make sure they had managed through that ferocious Ike. She said they have a tree down on the fence in their yard but still have electricity and have plenty of water on hand. I was worried since Guang is in Taiwan I believe. Even if he had wanted to come home, the airport is closed. I was worried about them. These hurricanes can be deadly. Keep up your entertaining and picturesque posts. Eileen

Salsero said...

Thanks for the note Eileen. I'm sure several of us have been wondering how Irene made it through the storm. My sister and sister-in-law are both in Houston and they are without electricity, but the cell phones are working at least -- as long as the batteries last!

eileen said...

Salsero, I was stuck in Florida during and after Wilma because the power failed for some time. Fortunately, I could walk to the police station which was powered by a generator. The staff there graciously allowed me to recharge my phone. You might tell your family that. Thanks be that they are safe.

Tuo Cha Tea said...

Eillen, I'm glad hearing that Irene is OK. The fence can be rebuilt and if there isn't bigger damage it's all ended well.
Fortunately, here in midst of Europe aren't such deadly winds.