Yixing

[Chadrinkincat]

The Yixing market seems like a rather strange place. I love F1 pots but not sure I’d rather have one instead of a similarly priced ROC pot.

I am pretty sure, you won't look twice back at them if you lay your hands on ROC
Happened to me, my previously treasured green label Biandeng has become my travel pot. Lucky I spent enough time with it before, so it has a nice patina nonetheless.

I must have lower quality taste than you cuz I actually like the aesthetic of green label period. Though I think there are some very wonky pots during this period so it probably depends a lot on batches.

It's true it has a certain vibe to it, that is not without it's charm. I think it depends on the shapes in particular. Classic Shuiping is a good example of what I meant: The fat, un-seemly rim of the lids are no match for the earlier factory pots, although 60s is still wonky, but in a more refined way.

I have one ROC shuiping that I love but unfortunately these are very expensive and harder to come by in the states. My guess would be that I’d probably share more of your view about F1 if I lived in TW or SG.

Definitely agree on the older factory stuff being aesthetically better. Less clunky than later stuff. Though I wouldn’t get rid of my green label stuff if I focused on 60’s because one should always have a few cheap but functional pots for traveling or casual use.

[DailyTX]

Since we are talking about exported pot, anyone know if the glaze on those pot would fracture over time? Like crackle glaze? I remembered my pot also has a bird similar to that one, but the clay color looks more like Qing shui ni. The glaze on the bird has inner fractures, and a few tiny holes that don’t look like chips.

Like anything applied to a surface it is prone to abrasion and crackling is not excluded. The tiny holes might be bubbles formed when fired? Or impurities underneath the came up in the kiln? Got a picture?

@Bok
I’ll post some on Tuesday

[.m.]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3197775005

Looks like one of the ROC export pots. Is that a "neiziwaihong" (hongni coated zisha)?

Since we are talking about exported pot, anyone know if the glaze on those pot would fracture over time? Like crackle glaze? I remembered my pot also has a bird similar to that one, but the clay color looks more like Qing shui ni. The glaze on the bird has inner fractures, and a few tiny holes that don’t look like chips.

With use it is likely to develop a few little crackles in the enamel as the pots heats up and cools down. In the picture below you'll see some if you look carefully. On the other hand, lot of these export pots ended up in a cabinet some middle class home an haven't seen much of actual use.

[Chadrinkincat]

You can see cracking on this one I have which was well used w/coffee. Similar looking to those crackle glazed celadon gaiwan.

[Mark-S]

What do you think of clay mugs? They seem very convenient for work to me and look better than regular mugs. Can you put sugar in it, or would this ruin the clay over time?

I cannot read Chinese, but this mug seems to be an advertising gift from a company: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Yixing-Zisha-Te ... 3845570815

Are they generally of poor quality? The clay looks very uniform. I do not know if this is a bad sign.

[Bok]

Personally, I don’t want my cup/mug alter whatever magic the clay pot has been doing to my tea...

Also, clay quality on cups is often less good than on the pots. There also is a reason why many Yixing cups are actually glazed with white inside...

Any good porcelain mug will do a better job with tea than those.

[Mark-S]

Personally, I don’t want my cup/mug alter whatever magic the clay pot has been doing to my tea...

Also, clay quality on cups is often less good than on the pots. There also is a reason why many Yixing cups are actually glazed with white inside...

Any good porcelain mug will do a better job with tea than those.

Oh, that's a pity. I thought I could use a Yixing mug to brew tea in it when I cannot use a teapot. However, I do not want to use some mediocre clay which might even be toxic. I will continue to brew multiple sessions at once and use a thermal jug to keep it warm.

[DailyTX]

Here are a few photos of my glazed Yixing. No idea if it's antique or replica

[DailyTX]

Here are 2 more

[Bok]

@DailyTX looks real to me. Low-fired, commoner quality Zisha. Probably not easy to find a good tea match it with? In my experience, this kind of clay absorbs a lot.

[DailyTX]

DailyTX looks real to me. Low-fired, commoner quality Zisha. Probably not easy to find a good tea match it with? In my experience, this kind of clay absorbs a lot.

@Bok
I wouldn’t use this pot for tea as the spout is poorly made, so water flow is not good. Once in a while, I would pull this pot out from the shelf to show the making of zisha to friends. The bottom of the pot has a circle like seam,
And the inner body where the handle is connected has 2 fading line that shows how the body is connected. If you zoom in the photo, you maybe able to see it. If the spout is better made, I may consider feeding it tea because the lid is a good fit

[Mark-S]

I would be more worried about the possibility of lead in the glaze. That is the main reason why I have not bought such pots yet.

[Bok]

I would be more worried about the possibility of lead in the glaze. That is the main reason why I have not bought such pots yet.

The glaze won’t touch the interior...

[Mark-S]

The glaze won’t touch the interior...

This may sound paranoid, but I would actually have a bad feeling touching it.

[Chadrinkincat]

DailyTX looks real to me. Low-fired, commoner quality Zisha. Probably not easy to find a good tea match it with? In my experience, this kind of clay absorbs a lot.

It seems like many of these enamel pots are too low fired for actual use.