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YIXING Teapots (Article Two - A Closer Look)

For centuries, the Yixing (say: E-Shing) teapot has enjoyed the reputation among Chinese tea drinkers as being, in the words of one writer, “a superior vessel for tea drinking.” In fact, scientific studies have been conducted in an effort to pinpoint those objective characteristics that have won Yixing ware such praise. But what of the history behind these teapots?

THE SHORT STORY OF YIXING...

The Yixing teapot was the first pot designed specifically for brewing tea. Prior to about 1500 CE, the Chinese preferred a powdered tea mixture whisked in a teabowl. These first Yixing teapots (also spelled Ixing, I-hsing or Yi-Hsing) originated in the Jiangsu (or Kiangsi) province about 100 miles west of Shanghai.

Initially, the Chinese Imperial Court preferred the more ornate, glazed tea vessels. Yixing became instead the favorite of the “literati” or class of Chinese intellectuals for their simplicity and naturalism in both material and form. European artisans also imitated the earthenware Yixing pots, inspiring such well-known British ceramic enterprises known today as Wedgwood. History tells us, however, that the British were not terribly successful in their attempts to copy Yixing, and continued to import much of their ceramic tea ware from China.

WHAT IS YIXING TEA WARE?

Yixing ware is made of unglazed clay. Because clay is a porous material, the ceramic absorbs a very small amount of tea with each brewing. After prolonged use, the Yixing pot will develop a certain patina that retains some of the taste, scent and color of tea and that also lends the teapot itself an unusually attractive luminescent quality. It is for this reason one should never wash an Yixing teapot. After use, it should simply be rinsed out with fresh water.

But one can find a wide variety of earthenware teapots. What makes Yixing teapots so special?

PURPLE CLAYS OF JIANGSU...

Zisha, or purple clay, from which Yixing ware is made, is found throughout the hilly southern area of the Yixing region. The particular qualities of this clay substance set the Yixing apart from other unglazed earthenware teapots. Geologists have pinpointed the origins of Zisha in the area’s compressed sedimentary lake deposits.

Although classified as “purple clays,” there are actually three different varieties of Zisha. The most common of these are the Zini or rose-brown clays. The other two more rare clays are know as Banshanlu or creamy white to light-brown clays and Zhuni or red clays. Chemically, all are composed primarily of quartz, kaolin and mica and contain high amounts of iron oxide, which lends the clays their purple-red color. Zisha clays are also fairly sandy.

One of the advantages of the purple clays is their highly plastic nature that remains quite strong once fired. When fired and dried, it undergoes little contraction. This allows the teapot lid to fit snugly, which in turn minimizes loss of heat and aroma.

Recognized by artisans and literati centuries ago, these characteristics of the Zisha or purple clays help to make Yixing pots especially well-suited for brewing tea. Excavations have shown that the composition and structure of the clays used in making authentic Yixing teapots today closely resemble those used in pots from the 1500s and later.

This fact is not meant to imply that the Yixing tradition is a stagnant one. As many of the contemporary pieces will attest, it is an evolving tradition that integrates the cultural values, styles and ideas of today with more familiar ancient Yixing patterns.

Finally, one of the most distinctive features of the Yixing teapot is its “chop” mark. The Yixing potter places his or her personal chop mark or seal on each piece he or she makes. The mark serves to identify the creator of each piece while it reminds the tea drinker of the care and sense of individuality that goes into each pot; something rarely observed, nowadays, in the Chinese mass-produced ceramic tea ware industry.

In this century, the Yixing pots have won gold medals at such international assemblies as the 1926 Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Celebration and the International Expositions in Leipzig and Liege in the 1930s.

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