Yixing

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LeoFox
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Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:45 am

olivierd wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:33 am
Thanks Youzi, appreciated.
There are a lot of articles and videos presenting the transformation of yixing ore into usable clay, it's quite fascinating.
Slab building is not only limited to yixing, this is a common pottery technics as far as I know. So while it is the traditional yixing technics it is not unique in the ceramic field. If I'm not wrong that's called Itazukuri in Japan.
Yet I see your point, and somehow I would consider that because of that point too the clay (or ore if you prefer) and the location of the same is the basics of yixing ceramics and thus yixing teapots.
Let me know if I miss your point.
Am curious Olivier- what drives you to acquire more of these pots?
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Youzi
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Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:49 am

olivierd wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:33 am
Thanks Youzi, appreciated.
There are a lot of articles and videos presenting the transformation of yixing ore into usable clay, it's quite fascinating.
Slab building is not only limited to yixing, this is a common pottery technics as far as I know. So while it is the traditional yixing technics it is not unique in the ceramic field. If I'm not wrong that's called Itazukuri in Japan.
Yet I see your point, and somehow I would consider that because of that point too the clay (or ore if you prefer) and the location of the same is the basics of yixing ceramics and thus yixing teapots.
Let me know if I miss your point.
I don't mean the technique is unique, although if you add all the techniques and repertoire a potter uses nowadays, then it well probably is. Nowadays the skills required to make the more complex yixing shapes went beyond what is usually considered slab building in other places.

Although its still slab building in essence.

All these things are linked together. So although the things that make yixing tradition unique they aren't unique by themsevles, but combined are what they make yixing tradition unique in the world.

(the ore isn't unique, there are many yixing like ores around the world, the individual building techniques aren't unique neither as you pointed out, the individual ore processing Steps aren't unique too, but all of these things combined are.)

So basically the journey from rock to a teapot is what differentiates yixing from other pottery cultures around the world and I assume vise versa would also be true.
olivierd
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Fri Jun 04, 2021 10:12 am

Youzi wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:49 am
I don't mean the technique is unique, although if you add all the techniques and repertoire a potter uses nowadays, then it well probably is. Nowadays the skills required to make the more complex yixing shapes went beyond what is usually considered slab building in other places.

Although its still slab building in essence.

All these things are linked together. So although the things that make yixing tradition unique they aren't unique by themsevles, but combined are what they make yixing tradition unique in the world.

(the ore isn't unique, there are many yixing like ores around the world, the individual building techniques aren't unique neither as you pointed out, the individual ore processing Steps aren't unique too, but all of these things combined are.)

So basically the journey from rock to a teapot is what differentiates yixing from other pottery cultures around the world and I assume vise versa would also be true.
I think I see what you mean and why you initially insisted on the "traditional" yixing, that makes sense. Thanks for having taken the time to explain. I've had a similar discussion on Bizen recently and modern Bizen artist Toru Ichikawa : is it still Bizen in the traditional meaning of it ? Clay is Bizen one, master is Kakurezaki, but for instance glazing is largely used, so Bizen or not when compared to Isezaki Jun ? Very hard to be assertive.
olivierd
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Fri Jun 04, 2021 10:24 am

LeoFox wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:45 am
Am curious Olivier- what drives you to acquire more of these pots?
Not sure it is of any interest for you, but primarily the curiosity. I can brew my teas in gaiwans and leave it here quite easily. I have a couple of really average ones that could have done the job too, but when I held my first White Label I was astonished by the difference with other pots I had in many aspects. So I went digging a little more into the field. I'm not a collector as such of Yixing, though you might call me a collector (at an extreme small scale) of Japanese ceramics and more generally of Chadogu. I also like a good cup of tea...
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Baisao
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Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:36 pm

For these kinds of questions I generally begin by defining what it is not.

For example, Yixing is not from Japan. Yixing is not from Chaozhou. Yixing is not earthenware… And so on, getting more specific about what it isn’t.

It’s a long list of what it isn’t but eventually you get a kind of generalized, practical definition. It is certainly everything that it is not.

I’ll temper this by saying that I am not big on defining anything, even myself. As I used to say when introducing myself to people (imagining now that my irl name is Tom):

“My name is Tom. I am not Tom. My name is Tom.”

But of course there is no I either, hahaha!
Qidjm
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Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:00 pm

OCTO wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 9:55 pm
Bok wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 8:53 pm
Neiziwaihong, Hongni coated outside only over a Zini core. Looks like green label period.
+1 👍🏻👍🏻
@Bok and @OCTO
ok 1st off, thank you both so much for responding and sharing your knowledge which to me, is absolutely amazing and Wizard like :D in how you id'd it from my terrible pictures! 😌🙏
2nd off apologies for not signing on and thanking you both sooner, been working a lot of very longs days.
3rd Super newbie so apologies if this is common knowledge (I've been reading a bunch of the older posts and googling like mad!) and anything pointing me in the right direction is super appreciated! FYI I'm Canadian, we say thanks and sorry a lot LOL!

re Neiziwaihong: that nice simple explanation is awesome! I know it's probably not great, but it's exciting for me to learn new things like this technique that was used even if for cutting costs lol
My goal is to learn if I've got a good 'starter' pot to drink oolongs from :) and learn enough to move up a level to enjoy tea even more (so not a collector...at this point).

The city I picked it up from has a lot of older generation folks who were overseas in the late 70's and 80's so that's what I was guessing the time period might be.
When you say 'green label period', what does that generally mean in terms of year range and is that referring to Factory 1 and or 2 or...?
The carving on the inside of the lid led me to think it (thanks google! :lol: ) was not Factory so was that one of the things along with the clay, mica etc. that helped you identify that it is likely 'green label period'?

Can I just insert a straw into both of your brains and get the knowledge and expertise quickly? hahaha! JK, I know this is years of experience you are sharing so baby steps for me. Since I picked it up at a local online auction with a bunch of trinkets for less than $4.00 CAD, I'm happy with it as long as it's not just tourist junk that makes sketchy tea lol
Been enjoying reading yours and @steanze posts in these threads very much so again, thank you all for this community and sharing :)
Mark-S
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Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:15 pm

Qidjm wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:00 pm
When you say 'green label period', what does that generally mean in terms of year range and is that referring to Factory 1 and or 2 or...?
The carving on the inside of the lid led me to think it (thanks google! :lol: ) was not Factory so was that one of the things along with the clay, mica etc. that helped you identify that it is likely 'green label period'?
Green label period = 1977 to 1982, referring to Factory 1, not F2 (which was founded in 1984). The carving inside the lid is normal for this period.
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Bok
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Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:55 pm

Mark-S wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:15 pm
Green label period = 1977 to 1982, referring to Factory 1, not F2 (which was founded in 1984). The carving inside the lid is normal for this period.
what he said :lol:

It is easy to differentiate F1 from F2, anything that looks like the period, but is off in details or wrong in some other way, is F2. Kidding. F2 and F5 are a bit tricky to identify as they are, well, sloppy and no one really wants them and bothers to classify them. Before you ask F3 and 4 only did flower pots. Like planters.
Mark-S
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 2:18 am

Here's an example of a F2 pot. F2 pots are not necessarily bad. This one is quite nice in my opinion. The good thing about F2 pots is that they are not as expensive.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143204482977
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Balthazar
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:02 am

Bought my first F2 a couple weeks ago, gonna pretend I didn't read the last few posts :) (/jk)

Anyone familiar with "pinzi" clay (拼紫泥)? Popped up a 90s pot that seems like it's gonna fetch a decent price. Babelcarp suggests it's "a blend of two or more types of Zini", whereas this article seems to suggest that it's zini mixed with either another type of zini or something else (i.e. not all the clay involved has to be in the zini family). Was the term limited to a certain period (80s and 90s?), is it common even to this day?
Mark-S
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:03 am

Balthazar wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:02 am
Bought my first F2 a couple weeks ago, gonna pretend I didn't read the last few posts :) (/jk)

Anyone familiar with "pinzi" clay (拼紫泥)? Popped up a 90s pot that seems like it's gonna fetch a decent price. Babelcarp suggests it's "a blend of two or more types of Zini", whereas this article seems to suggest that it's zini mixed with either another type of zini or something else (i.e. not all the clay involved has to be in the zini family). Was the term limited to a certain period (80s and 90s?), is it common even to this day?
Photo please :)

My understanding is that this just means that it's not pure ZiNi. I've read that this clay is often doped with manganese oxide. If this is wrong, correct me please.
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Balthazar
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:21 am

Mark-S wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:03 am
Photo please :)
It not in my possession yet, I'm gathering a couple things I'm getting from Taiwan and it might be a month or so before I have them shipped. But here's some photos from the seller.

(Base seal reads "Copy of Shanghai Museum". At 330ml it's gonna be my biggest pot by far. Plan to use it for brewing big pots of fucha, or maybe even for pu when I'm not in the mood for gongfu, we'll see.)
.m.
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:56 am

;)
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Mark-S
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:14 pm

Balthazar wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:21 am
Base seal reads "Copy of Shanghai Museum".
That's new to me. I only knew that museum shops in the US sold Yixing pots.

-

This is a pot made by female potter Pei Hedi (裴荷娣) and calligrapher Shi Quan (石泉) in 2002. It's not worth much... but I like the style. ;)

@.m. That's a nice one :)
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Youzi
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Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:48 pm

Mark-S wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 1:14 pm
Balthazar wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 11:21 am
Base seal reads "Copy of Shanghai Museum".
That's new to me. I only knew that museum shops in the US sold Yixing pots.

-

This is a pot made by female potter Pei Hedi (裴荷娣) and calligrapher Shi Quan (石泉) in 2002. It's not worth much... but I like the style. ;)

@.m. That's a nice one :)
Image
Looks not bad. Is it full hand?
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