Capacity: Approximately 250ml
Photos are of the actual teapot. There is only one teapot available. This teapot was handmade by the artist 汤梦飞 Tang Mengfei.
This teapot shape is an exceptionally difficult shape to make as a fully handmade piece. This shape is known as 筋纹器 Jingwen. Generally speaking, there are three basic symmetrical shapes for the body of an Yixing Teapot: Round, square and jingwen. The jingwen teapot is the most difficult of the three and the difficulty in maintaining the symmetry of the shape increases with the number of sides or lobes. The greater the number of lobes, the greater the difficulty in constructing the teapot.
This pot is known as fully handmade as unlike most Yixing teapots that are half handmade the sculptor does not use a molding tool to shape the body, but instead shapes everything, including the body, by hand. Fully handmade teapots require more labor and more skill to construct, especially in the case of more complex shapes. Each one is entirely unique.
You can read more about fully handmade teapots in our blog entry here.
This teapot was fired in a wood kiln in Yixing. The pine wood ash falls on the surface of the teapot forming a natural glaze that is sometimes glossy black, red, brown, yellow, green or any combination of these colors. Wood Fired Yixing Teapots each have their own special appearance, no two are the same. Learn more about our Wood Fired Yixing Teapots here:
https://www.mudandleaves.com/blog/wood-kiln-yixing-teapots
This teapot was made of Jiangpo-Qingni or green jiangponi. This clay is very versatile and is good for use with most kinds of tea. You can read more about Jiangponi here on our blog.
Preparation Before Use
Yixing Teapots should be prepared before using the first time. This is called "opening the pot". It removes the dust from firing the teapot.
We recommend rinsing the teapot under warm water two or three times, then filling the teapot with boiling water and emptying it out two to three times. After this the teapot is ready for use.