Taiwanese pots

User avatar
LeoFox
Posts: 1777
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:01 pm
Location: Washington DC

Sun Nov 08, 2020 7:27 pm

Lovely metallic sheen!

And the upturned spout has a certain nobility to it
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Sun Nov 08, 2020 11:30 pm

@wave_code, thank you for starting the thread!

I have two Dong Feng teapots. Both are slip cast, one is more crude than the other. I have used them and while they do work well for the price, they are hardly works of art of impressive craftsmanship. The appeal to me for these two pots is historical. My understanding is that these pots would have been affordable everyman teapots from before modern Yixing became readily available.

The pear shaped pot changes when wet to a marble-like luster, which I haven't seen before in other teapots.
Dong Feng 1
Dong Feng 1
DongFeng.PNG (654.17 KiB) Viewed 8224 times
Dong Feng 1 Bottom
Dong Feng 1 Bottom
DongFengbtm.PNG (717.2 KiB) Viewed 8224 times
Dong Feng 2
Dong Feng 2
DongFeng2.PNG (783.06 KiB) Viewed 8224 times
Dong Feng 2 Bottom
Dong Feng 2 Bottom
DongFengbtm2.PNG (667.01 KiB) Viewed 8224 times
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Sun Nov 08, 2020 11:43 pm

This is a wheel thrown teapot made by Xu Jin Choi (許進財). It is a surprising 130ml despite being diminutive in size. It is eggshell thin and thus it is also light. It's the thinnest teapot I've ever held.

The clay is probably local and the craftmanship is impressive. The spout is incredibly delicate and the lid is tight with no signs of being ground. It's the antithesis of the chunky so-called wabi-sabi pots that have been popular in Taiwan for a couple decades now. It's affect on tea is perfectly neutral.

More teaware tomorrow.

Xu Jin Choi
Xu Jin Choi
Eggshell.PNG (469.29 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
Attachments
Xu Jin Choi Bottom
Xu Jin Choi Bottom
Eggshellbtm.PNG (491.25 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Mon Nov 09, 2020 12:00 am

This teapot is by 28 year old Qui Zhongjun, from Caotun township, in Nantou county. The lid is inset and the interior is unglazed. The clay is unfamiliar to me but it is high fired and nonporous. Its design is industrial yet graceful. I use this teapot regularly for Japanese teas and Taiwanese greens. The fit and finish is impeccable (note the spout detail).

Qui Zhongjun
Qui Zhongjun
QuiZhongjun.PNG (400.48 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
Qui Zhongjun Bottom
Qui Zhongjun Bottom
IMG_7618.jpg (84.1 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
Qui Zhongjun Top
Qui Zhongjun Top
View recent photos (1).png (389.05 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
Qui Zhongjun Spout Detail
Qui Zhongjun Spout Detail
View recent photos.png (320.04 KiB) Viewed 8219 times
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Mon Nov 09, 2020 12:36 am

Those last two are drop-dead-georgeous! I believe this kind of quality is hard to find these days in Taiwan, hold onto them! Thanks for sharing.
User avatar
wave_code
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:10 pm
Location: Germany

Mon Nov 09, 2020 3:22 am

wow, lots of very nice stuff coming up on here already.

@Baisao very nice pots, all of them. that last one looks amazing- great combo of clay and shape. I wish more info was available about the Dong Feng pots. While they seem not so special in many ways I'm really intrigued by them for the same reason it sounds like you are. I generally favor things which are modest and effective or things that should they get broken are easily replaced identically on a budget - they aren't always the best but they are readily available and do what they need to do. So maybe its that I look for teapots in this way too- I'm always hunting for the Lamy Safari or Casio f91w teapots :D . Craftsmanship/workmanship I also greatly appreciate and I think theres room for both. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken here, but in some ways its a reflection to me of what the Yixing factory pots might have been too before they got older and as prices have gone up with quality/clay changes and collectors- while you have master crafters/artisans doing great work there was also the idea/need for mass manufactured simple yet effective teapots. You can have a teapot that still makes very good tea that is a little fumbly and has tool marks and everything inside. Maybe it isn't collectable or prized for workmanship, but neither are my work boots yet I appreciate them greatly for what they are. If anyone has ways of getting a hold of a variety of these pots at good prices I'd be interested in trying them out and learning more about them.

@Bok I know you have way more nice and interesting pots to occupy yourself with but I'm curious if you come across these a lot?

Also your wood fired pots are very nice looking. They look like they are quite small- around what capacity were you working with? They do look very thick walled, so I could see how maybe they weren't ideal for the types of teas you seem most interested in - but to me they look like they could be great for hei cha where you really want/need to keep the heat up, which as I'm finding can get trickier when you want to still use smaller quantity pots for rarer teas.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Mon Nov 09, 2020 6:51 am

@wave_code they’re literally everywhere... even shopping malls. Yingge near Taipei is famous for pottery, sort of like Taiwan Yixing.

Believe it or not, the rough looking pot is actually very thin walled! Metallic one still medium-thin, the colourful one medium.
All around 100-120ml. I literally was not good enough to control how large or small the became in the end... somehow always in the same sizes :)
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:40 pm

here's one i got in yingge in the spring of 2015:

Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot
Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot
taiwan-cracked-earth-pot.jpg (225.12 KiB) Viewed 8118 times

maybe a bit kitschy in retrospect, but i still really like it. it's a well made pot.

it reminds me of cracked earth:

Image

Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot: Interior
Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot: Interior
taiwan-cracked-earth-pot-inside.jpg (92.46 KiB) Viewed 8118 times

seems wheel thrown, right?

i don't know chinese, but looks like made in 2014 on the left side:

Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot: Bottom
Taiwan "Cracked Earth" Teapot: Bottom
taiwan-cracked-earth-pot-bottom.jpg (83.21 KiB) Viewed 8118 times

made by 張政鍾 (Zhang Zhengzhong).

is it common for taiwanese guys to write the year on the bottom? just noticed @Baisao's pot above is also like that.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:43 pm

@pedant 2014 indeed. Nice pot, one could say the original tree bark pot before Novak made it a thing haha!

I think my first teapot ever(also from Yingge) was made by the same potter!
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:47 pm

@pedant, that texture is really cool. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s still different enough from the bark finishes.
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:48 pm

haha bok. do you have a pic of it?
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:52 pm

Baisao wrote:
Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:47 pm
pedant, that texture is really cool. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s still different enough from the bark finishes.
I think, originally it’s a European pottery technique:

First you raise the body to the approximate size and shape. Then you use a hairdryer to dry the outside. Then continue raising the body, due to the drying before the skin now cracks on the outside.

Some do throw a bit of clay dust and grit on it before drying it.

It’s actually a very easy effect to do. I’ve done it a couple of times during my pottery lessons.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:53 pm

pedant wrote:
Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:48 pm
haha bok. do you have a pic of it?
Yes it’s in the “my first teapot thread” :) I’d look it up, but on my phone it’s not so convenient to do at the moment.
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1397
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:58 pm

Bok wrote:
Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:52 pm
Baisao wrote:
Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:47 pm
pedant, that texture is really cool. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s still different enough from the bark finishes.
I think, originally it’s a European pottery technique:

First you raise the body to the approximate size and shape. Then you use a hairdryer to dry the outside. Then continue raising the body, due to the drying before the skin now cracks on the outside.

Some do throw a bit of clay dust and grit on it before drying it.

It’s actually a very easy effect to do. I’ve done it a couple of times during my pottery lessons.
That’s dope!
User avatar
pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Wed Nov 11, 2020 11:27 pm

+1
also, sometimes you put sodium silicate on there before you hit it with the heat gun.
Post Reply