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I am offering a rare treat from my surplus stock:
A late Qing/early ROC period, Zisha teapot in 140ml. I am using the term Zisha as the clay on antiques is often a blend of several clays, in this case a Zisha/Zini kind of clay.

Firing seems to be medium. Did well with roasted Oolong and Hongcha (haven't tried others). For those who are thinking it might be too large, I want to add that with this shape it is good practice to not fill up to the brim anyways, so a working-volume of 100-120ml is more reasonable.

As usual for teapots of this period, the lid does not fit perfectly, which does not impede the performance of it. Tear and wear as appropriate for an antique. Inside has some tool marks. Thoroughly cleaned and reset. No visible cracks (be careful when first using, old teapots need to slowly be woken up! Always warm from the outside first, preferably the bottom of the pot).

This teapot is to the best of knowledge from the late Qing/early ROC period. In addition, I have cross-checked this item with the sources at my disposal. If you consider purchasing, I suppose that have done the same and know what you are doing. Do not buy what you don't understand

See images for further details, or request more if you need to see a particular part of it!

Price: 720$ (payment per paypal in NT 21600)
incl. paypal fees and EMS shipping

More angles

Inside (see tool marks mentioned).

More

Looks like a good deal, and 140 ml will make a good shu puerh pot. Now I am curious the number of antique pots in your collection

“A gentleman enjoys, but never tells”

If you happened to have an antique canon spout Ju lun zhu with thick wall, and you want to find a new home for it, let me know

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:19 pm

Looks like a good deal, and 140 ml will make a good shu puerh pot. Now I am curious the number of antique pots in your collection

Shu in an antique pot?

Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:12 pm

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:19 pm

Looks like a good deal, and 140 ml will make a good shu puerh pot. Now I am curious the number of antique pots in your collection

Shu in an antique pot?

Guess it’s all a matter of how many pots one owns... haha

That said, a lot of antiques are under fired and as such good candidates for this kind of teas.

Hearsay has it some collectors in SEA swear on antique Duanni for Shu. Imagine the patina...

Bok wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:52 pm

Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 6:12 pm

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:19 pm

Looks like a good deal, and 140 ml will make a good shu puerh pot. Now I am curious the number of antique pots in your collection

Shu in an antique pot?

Guess it’s all a matter of how many pots one owns... haha

That said, a lot of antiques are under fired and as such good candidates for this kind of teas.

Hearsay has it some collectors in SEA swear on antique Duanni for Shu. Imagine the patina...

@Chadrinkincat
Antique or modern, aside from the price difference, it’s still a zisha teapot. I find larger pot with thicker wall tend to do well with shu.

@Bok
I have noticed that trend for antique duanni in Asia as well. I don’t have too much experience with duanni, logically with the property of duanni, it makes sense. I tried to pair duanni with oolong, it took away too much flavor.

@DailyTX Just to clarify, the pot in question above is not thick-walled, it’s more medium - actually just a normal thickness.

As for Duanni, it can be quite different from pot to pot. I personally really like it with Gaoshan as it emphasises the body of those teas.

Modern Duanni seems to be quite different though it seems...

Bok wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:54 am

Modern Duanni seems to be quite different though it seems...

Modern duanni usuall higher fired, to avoid Tuhei.

Youzi wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:33 am

Bok wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:54 am

Modern Duanni seems to be quite different though it seems...

Modern duanni usuall higher fired, to avoid Tuhei.

@Youzi
Would high fired duanni decrease tea altering property, and being closer to like porcelain or wood fired zisha? Also, I have seen people talked about firing the same batch of pots at different temperature to yield different color. I am curious on how to determine what’s considered proper firing?

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:24 pm

Youzi wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:33 am

Bok wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:54 am

Modern Duanni seems to be quite different though it seems...

Modern duanni usuall higher fired, to avoid Tuhei.

Youzi
Would high fired duanni decrease tea altering property, and being closer to like porcelain or wood fired zisha? Also, I have seen people talked about firing the same batch of pots at different temperature to yield different color. I am curious on how to determine what’s considered proper firing?

Of course proper firing decreases porosity, and thus the taste and fragrance altering properties. It's one of the reason why many old pots and especially Lüni and Tuanni are so muting, because they are improperly fired.

Proper firing range for the certain types are, in general:
Zini: 1150-1250
Hongni: 1140-1180
Lüni: 1190-1250
Tuanni: 1200-1250
Zhuni: 1120-1150
And DHP Zhuni is 1080

Anything below 1100 is not fired right, but with enough use, it can became better. (these are the "thirsty, but later good" pots). Anything below 1000 is basically shouldn't be called "Yixing Zisha".

Youzi wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:36 pm

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:24 pm

Youzi wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:33 am

Modern duanni usuall higher fired, to avoid Tuhei.

Youzi
Would high fired duanni decrease tea altering property, and being closer to like porcelain or wood fired zisha? Also, I have seen people talked about firing the same batch of pots at different temperature to yield different color. I am curious on how to determine what’s considered proper firing?

Of course proper firing decreases porosity, and thus the taste and fragrance altering properties. It's one of the reason why many old pots and especially Lüni and Tuanni are so muting, because they are improperly fired.

Proper firing range for the certain types are, in general:
Zini: 1150-1250
Hongni: 1140-1180
Lüni: 1190-1250
Tuanni: 1200-1250
Zhuni: 1120-1150
And DHP Zhuni is 1080

Anything below 1100 is not fired right, but with enough use, it can became better. (these are the "thirsty, but later good" pots). Anything below 1000 is basically shouldn't be called "Yixing Zisha".

Interesting discussion, I don’t know if this should migrate this discussion to the yixing thread, so we don’t hijack this swap thread.

I bet someone probably asked this question already. I wonder if anyone ever try to fire an under fires antique pot? Would that potentially damaging the pot? The second question is do you know quick tip and tricks to differentiate under fired, proper fired, and over fired? For me, I am not that experienced, so I rely a lot on comparison and I am one of those people who will do the sound test