Yixing pottery has been part of Chinese tea culture for centuries. We mention it here shortly for those collectors interested in teawares in general.
During the Tang and Song dynasties preparation of tea (tea brewing) was quite different, and a coarse type of tea was used. The preparation for drinking consisted mainly in grinding it with a pestle in a rubbing movement inside a wide bowl with grooves down its inside. This is not unlike the preparation of Lei Cha (Lei Tea) of the Hakka people today.
In those days mostly pewter teapots were used for the tea. At the same time as the quality of the tea itself improved over time in the Song dynasty, the use of pottery became also more and more frequent, and pottery teapots made of clay all but replaced pewter in China's tea culture.
The western name of "Yixing" pottery comes from the location where the Zisha pots are made, the town of Yixing. It is located just near the western shore of Taihu, China's great lake, to the west of Shanghai. Gallery of Song dynasty tea bowls (Chinese text) of Taiwan University (opens in new window)
Today, many Chinese fond of drinking or brewing tea in the traditional manner are avid collectors of "zisha", "tiesha" and "zhusha" teapots from Yixing kilns. Zisha (literally meaning "purple sand") is the name of a clay frequently used for Yixing pottery in the Chinese language. Tiesha literally means iron sand, due to its high iron content the clay is very dark, almost black, and Zhusha is the more reddish type of Yixing pottery clay. "Yixing" itself is the place name of the place where the pottery has been made for centuries.
Yixing pottery is now mostly used for teawares, both pots and cups, and some other tea paraphernalia.
This Yixing tiesha teapot has a greyish black color and visibly has been in use for quite some time.
The clay color ranges from a reddish brown to a very dark brown and greyish black. Basically, these Yixing pots and cups are all left unglazed. Zhusha teapots from Yixing kilns display a distinctly reddish clay
However, teawares were not the only products of the Yixing kilns in the distant past. In the Ming and Qing dynasties Yixing did also make life-like figurines, ceramic replica of walnuts, lotus kernels, lychees, pomegranates, water caltrop and other produce, as well as crabs, coiled sea shells, etc. Later, during the Qianlong reign Jingdezhen followed suite and started also making such items using porcelain as material.
Yixing kiln
Yixing itself has a very long history. It first fired red pottery some 2000 years ago, during the Han dynasty. It is one one of the oldest kiln sites that is still in production today!
A little about modern Chinese tea culture
Modern tea culture enthusiasts call teapots made of Yixing pottery clay "living" pots, and they are "keeping the pot" (as one "keeps" a pet)... Other types of teapots are called "dead" pots.
After drinking the tea is finished the tea leaves are removed from the pot, but the pot is not cleaned. Instead, it is flushed with water and left to dry. The outside of the pot is rubbed off with a cloth. They call this "keeping the pot".
After doing this for a long time a thin layer of tea residue forms on the inside of the pot and some of the tea is able to penetrate the pores of the clay. Accordingly, merely adding hot water without any tea leaves can flush out these tea residues. Such pots are said to produce drinkable tea without tea leaves, hence they are called "living" pots. Teapots made of porcelain or other non-porous materials on the other hand are called "dead" pots.
Yixing teapot collectors will usually also do the rubbing with unused teapots. This increases the teapots' collecting value.
Warning! According to revelations made by Chinese media part of today's Yixing teapots are made of fake Zisha clay that is said to be toxic. How large is this part? It is known that due to depletion or near depletion of zisha clay some quarries mining zisha clay were closed as early as 2000. Due to this some manufacturers have resorted to using normal clay which is colored with chemicals to make it look like real zisha clay. In any case, drinking tea prepared in such new Yixing teapots should be avoided as the chemically treated clay may be harmful. For more information, please ask via blog or, if you speak Chinese, the relevant information can be found directly on the Chinese internet.
