Disclaimer: some of the seals may be more modern or old reproductions- this is not intended to be a reference for legitimate seals. That said, most of the shown pictures are from well established vendors and/or collectors - the exception being the group seal pictures that are from linked chinese blog posts listed under references
Regarding the situation of workshops and companies during lqer, the following passage from The stoneware of yixing - KS Lo is informative. Note the reference to firms that deal with imitation yixing.
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The big four during ROC
Chen Dinghe (陳鼎和)
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Wu Desheng (吳德盛)Yixing pottery from the early 20th century often bears the inscription "Chen Dinghe", which is the name of a company. The pottery produced by this company is stamped with the name "Chen Dinghe Ceramics Factory", and some are also stamped with the words CTHCo. Chen Dinghe's manager is Chen Yuanming. The company sells teapots, tea sets, tea bowls, wine bowls (with a belly-shaped warm water container outside), brush washers, Qiang jars and vases. The decorations on the pottery are typical of the 20th century style, with some engraved landscapes, feathers, or flowers. The inscriptions are often signed "Chen Dinghe"
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SeeWu Desheng was another company dealing in Yixing pottery in the early twentieth century. The boss of the company is Wu Hanwen, and the leading artist is Gu Jingzhou, a later generation master. The company's seal is "Wu Desheng Zhi" in Yangwen seal script, with two types: round seals and square seals. The registered trademark is a Jinding, so its other imprint is the "Jinding Trademark". The seal is round, with a tripod inside, with the word "Desheng" hidden in the middle, and the four words "Golden Tripod" and "Trademark" on both sides of the tripod.
Wu Desheng produced teapots, teacups, tea sets and other utensils. It combines decorative painting and calligraphy, and is a typical style of the early twentieth century. Sometimes, the surface of the pottery is also coated with a layer of black color to make the round pattern more eye-catchin
Wu Desheng has many artists who are good at making pots. In addition to the aforementioned master Gu Jingzhou, there are also Hu Yaoting, Yu Guoliang, etc. There is a black-glazed rectangular teapot in the collection of the Hong Kong Tea Ware Museum, which is the work of Hu Yaoting. The inscription "Yao Ting" is printed on the inside of the lid, while the shop name "Wu Desheng Made" is stamped on the bottom. On one side of the pot, there is an inscription on a plum branch and a bird, and the bottom is "Soseki", a pottery carver in the early 20th century. On the other side, there is an inscription on the pottery, with an inscription, dated to 1922.
https://marshaln.com/2016/10/yixing-inv ... u-desheng/
Tiehuaxian (鐵畫軒)
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Links to pots from this company on TF:Tiehuaxuan was a pottery company established in Shanghai in the early 20th century. Its founder, Dai Guobao, was born in Nanjing in the 1870s. He was a professional porcelain carver who used iron needles to carve patterns on porcelain, hence the name of the store. "Iron Painting Pavilion" is used to express its professional carving characteristics, and also means iron painting and silver hook.
At that time, Dai Guobao's interest shifted from carving porcelain to carving and painting Yixing pottery, so he bought raw pottery from Yixing and decorated it in his own workshop. The company's seal is "Iron Painting Xuan System", written in Yangwen seal script, which is also square and round. In addition, he also signed himself "Yu Ping" and "Jade Taoist".
Dai Guobao passed away in 1927, and the affairs of the store were managed by his widow. His son Dai Xiangming was born three years before Dai Dai Guobao's death. Dai Xiangming took over his father's business when he became an adult, nicknamed Liansheng, and his name can be seen on products in the 1930s and 1940s. (The "Liansheng" engraving should not be confused with the "Liansheng" seal, which belongs to the ceramic craftsman Shi Liansheng, who was also active in the early twentieth century).
At that time, the craftsman who supplied the largest number of pottery blanks to Tiehuaxuan was Jiang Yanting. Jiang Yanting had many aliases: Yanting, Zhichen, and Honggao. He was the main person who imitated Chen Mingyuan's works from the early twentieth century to the 25th year of the Republic of China. He is also the uncle of Jiang Rong, a master of ceramic art.
Other pottery craftsmen include Lu Yuanzhang (specialized in making vases), Fan Dasheng, Chen Guangming, Li Baozhen, Cheng Shouzhen, Wang Baogen, Wu Yungen and Wang Yinchun, etc. These craftsmen are all famous purple sand artists today.
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See also
https://marshaln.com/2016/08/yixing-inv ... n-jiangji/
Utilization company (利用公司)
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The company is also a company that operates pottery, its head store is located in Yixing, its products are professionally exported to Europe and the United States, participated in the 1915 Panama Exhibition, is famous abroad, there are many "submarine pottery" works. With the company's takeover of 1920 by Leon, products continue to win awards in exhibitions in Philadelphia (1926) and Paris (1930).
Other companies
Wanfeng Shunji (萬豊順記)
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"Wanfeng Shunji" is the store number stamp of Wanfeng Pottery Store. In the late Ming Dynasty, "Wanfeng" purple clay pots appeared; in Japan's Edo period, which was the mid-Qing Dynasty, there were also "Wanfeng Shunji" purple clay pots. Crossing east to Fusang; however, the now known "Wanfeng Shunji" was founded during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. It was a famous time-honored purple sand brand in Yixing during the Qing Dynasty and continued to operate until the Republic of China.
The owner is Jiang Wanfeng. His store is located on Shushan South Street. Many famous craftsmen have cooperated with him. The tea pots he ordered are engraved with "Wanfeng" and also have "Wanfeng" small seals and engraved marks. Generally, the four-character regular script of "Wanfeng Shunji" is used and printed with a square pattern border. Judging from the types of seals, they can be divided into two categories: regular script and seal script. Each type is further divided into two categories: with and without "palindrome borders". There are dozens of different fonts. Although there are many exquisite ones, due to the inscription There are too many types, which inevitably makes it feel like a mixture of good and bad, and it is also very difficult to verify.
From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, a large number of Yixing teapots were imported into Japan to meet the widespread demand for tea ceremony. Trade pots specially exported to Japan, formerly known as "oriental suits", were once a major market for China's purple sand exports. Most of the teapots exported to Japan are small ones. The more famous ones include Wanfeng Pottery Store, Baoshengtai Pottery Store, and Chen Dinghe Pottery Factory. In addition, "Wanshun Fengji", "Wanbao", "Moyuanzhai", and "Ge Mingchang" ", "Wu Desheng", "Tiehuaxuan" and other brands are the most reliable ones in terms of quality of purple clay teapots sold in Japan. They were all business names that exported teapots to Japan in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. In addition, there are also some unspecified or monogrammed purple clay teapots
Gemingchang (葛明昌)
- https://moodyguy.biz/roc-zini-bale.html
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See https://marshaln.com/2021/02/yixing-inv ... mingchang/
Fuji (福記)
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"The First Generation of Fu Ji" was founded in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China (about the same period as Chang Ji). It is the name of the pottery name of Ding Shu Workshop. It was founded by Cheng Shoufu (1853-1926), a famous craftsman in the late Qing Dynasty, also known as Chen. Suofu, died at the age of 73. His ancestral home is Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He escaped from chaos and settled in Huijia Village in the northeast corner of Shangbiao, Sichuan Bu. He became the adopted son of a Hui family descendant. The handle of the pot is often signed with "Xiang Fan" and "Jingxi Hui Mengchen" seals. During the Guangxu period, he jointly opened a shop with Chaozhou merchants in Guangdong. The handle of the pot was signed with the number "Fu Ji" and he specialized in various horizontal pots.
"The founder of Fu Ji is ~ Cheng Shoufu (who is Cheng Shouzhen's brother); he was born in the late Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. He was originally from Hangzhou, Zhejiang. When he was seven years old, he followed his ancestors to Dingshan and settled in Shangyuan Village. He is the righteous name of the descendants of Meng Chen. Zi; at that time, he was a master of making small red clay teapots. His craftsmanship was exquisite and unique. Most of the teapots he produced were sold in Southeast Asia. The bottom seal of his works was "Jingxi Hui Mengchen Made", and the whereabouts of the seal were " The two words "福记".
The second generation is Cheng Jinmao, who inherited Cheng Shoufu's father's business.
The third generation is the grandson of Cheng Shoufu ~ Cheng Zhenqing, born in 1907. When he was young, he followed his grandfather Cheng Shoufu to learn how to make small red clay pots. When he was young, he helped the "Wu Desheng" family to make pots. When Cheng Zhenqing was 27 years old, Wang Yinchun acted as matchmaker. Married to Zhou Fengdi, the daughter of the Zhou family on Shushan South Street, and gave birth to a daughter and a son. The daughter is Zhou Zhihua and the son is Zhou Zhixuan. They are both employees of Zisha Factory No. 1 and are engaged in Zisha creation. They can also be said to be "good fortune".
References
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/101947917?utm_id=0
https://blog.udn.com/mobile/cty43115/114688064
https://gucciwou.blogspot.com/2016/04/b ... 7.html?m=1
1986 K.S. Lo, The Stonewares of Yixing, From The Ming Period to the Present Day.
If gatekeepers were gatekeepers, they would not share information about what's authentic and what's a replica...