Description
LaoTze — Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing 道德经) Chapter Sixteen
致虚极，守静笃。万物并作，吾以观复。
The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigor. All things alike go through their processes of activity, and (then) we see them return (to their original state).
Origin: Dingshu, Yixing Town
Material: purple purple-clay (Zini Zisha 紫泥 – Raw ores)
Material: purple purple-clay (Zini Zisha 紫泥 – Raw ores)
Color: darker brown-purple
Size: 12.5cm*10cm*6cm (180ml)
Shape: stone gourd ladle (Shipiao 石瓢)
Shape: stone gourd ladle (Shipiao 石瓢)
Firing temperature: up to 1180℃
Contraction ratio: 11%
Time: 2019 己亥 [jǐ hài] 36th year of the Sexagenary Cycle
Design: Wenzhuo Liu 劉文卓
Artisan: Aizhen Ding 丁爱珍
Engraver: Yijun Xie 謝一軍
Artisan: Aizhen Ding 丁爱珍
Engraver: Yijun Xie 謝一軍
Direction: Purple clay teapots retain flavor well; one should dedicate each teapot to a specific type of tea (black, oolong or dark tea) so that the flavor doesn’t become corrupted. Never wash clay pots with Soap.
Introduction:
Engraving means carving words or pictures on wood or stone with a knife, as is the case with the engraved Zisha pottery, that is, carving words and pictures on the walls of Zisha pottery. Engraving is a very common decoration technique and the main form of the decoration of Zisha teapots, by leaving poems and songs, flowers, birds, insects and fish, and landscape and figures on teapots, the art of literature, calligraphy, painting and seal cutting has been added to the teapots.
Purple-clay 紫砂 [zǐ shā] is famous of high in iron and silicon contents, featuring high plasticity, the glossier surface the more useages of brewing tea. Tea sets made from purple-clay is not normally glazed. A finished product is primarily purple, thus it is named. This pottery can be divided into different colors, such as purple-brown “purple clay” which is in amaranth or light purple; gray-yellow “green clay” in gray or gray-blue; vermeil “red clay” in red-brown. Purple-clay tea set has a long history in China. Su Shi, the great scholar of the Song Dynasty, had designed a pot with handle, called “Dongpo Pot with Loop Handle”. In the Ming Dynasty, making loose tea in a small pot was popular, which led to the development of purple-clay pots.
