This is an yixing teapot made from the rarer red clay known as zhuni 朱泥. As you can see from the photos, zhuni. The clay will develop a shine from use. Zhuni clay is prized for it's ability to hold the fragrance of teas such as Taiwanese gaoshan oolong. It is also the most difficult clay to fire, and as such, fewer zhuni teapots are produced.
You can read more about zhuni clay in our blog entry here.
This teapot is the classic xishi shape style. This pot is known as "full 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. Each one is entirely unique, reflecting the style of the artist, Chen Chunhong 陈春宏. This pot holds around 150ml.
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.
Seasoning
Some recommend seasoning the teapot by placing it in a pot full of boiling hot tea to sit and absorb the flavour and tea oil, speeding up the seasoning of the teapot and giving it a premature shine. This is not necessary, the teapot will season naturally as it is used.