Yixing teapot
A Yixing teapot ( Chinese 宜興 紫砂 茶壶 , Pinyin Yíxīng zǐshā chá hu ) is a ceramic vessel made of fired, unglazed clay for the infusion of tea . These teapots are traditionally made in the region around the Chinese city of Yixing on the west bank of Lake Tai Hu in the south of Jiangsu province in the Yangtze delta. Their use has been documented since the 15th century; since then, they have been an essential part of Chinese tea culture . They play a special role in tea preparation in the "Gong-Fu" style , which has developed in the southern Chinese province of Fujian and in the areas around the cities of Chaozhou and Shantou , but are widespread throughout China. Since the 17th century they have been exported to Europe under the trade name "Buccaro" and have been imitated in the Netherlands, England and Germany. Teapots from Yixing inspired the first vessels specially made in Europe for infusing tea, even before white, glazed and colored Chinese porcelain became fashionable.
history
Archaeological finds
Archaeological excavations in the region around Yixing have found vessels made of gray or red ceramic in the classic forms of ding , dou and fu . Vessels of this shape have been known in China since the Neolithic and were particularly common in Jiangsu and the lower Yangtze region. Therefore, the beginnings of pottery in Yixing go back at least 3000 years. In other kilns, shards of green glazed pottery with brown or gray bodies that were fired at high temperatures were found, stylistically dated to the time of the Shang (18th – 11th centuries BC) and Zhou dynasties (approx. 11th – 3rd centuries BC) Century BC) can be classified. A third group of brown or gray stoneware, unglazed or with green glaze, found in Qinglongshan, Junshan and Chuanbu, are assigned to the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Qinglongshan and Junshan were referred to as the places where Zisha ware was made by Ming period writers in the 16th century . At the time of the Wei (220–265) and Jin (265–420), utensils were mainly produced in the region. During the Five Kingdoms Period (907–960), production appears to have stalled for unknown reasons. Zisha vessels reappear in kilns uncovered in Zhenjiang and Yangjiaoshan near Yixing and dated to the Song Dynasty (960-1270).
Some of the preserved teapots from the 16th and 17th centuries already show the shapes that are still produced today in the factories in the region. These include a find from the tomb of the eunuch Wu Jing (d. 1533) near Nanjing , as well as a teapot from a tomb in Jiangdou, Jiangsu Province, which was dated to 1633.
In 2004-2005 a wreck of a Portuguese merchant ship dated 1625 was explored underwater on the west coast of Malaysia off Terengganu . In the cargo of the ship called "Wanli" by its discoverer Sten Sjöstrand (after the Ming Emperor Wanli , who was in power at the time , 1563–1620), several fragments of red earthenware were found alongside large quantities of Chinese export porcelain . In another shipwreck from the late Ming dynasty (dated 1675) discovered in 2004 in Donggu Bay off the Dongshan archipelago (dated 1675), marine archaeologists from the Chinese National Museum found a round teapot with a flat lid made of red clay. In 1991 the cargo of the Ooosterland , a merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company, which sank in Table Bay off Cape Town in 1697 , was explored. Among other things, six complete Zisha teapots were found. These were stamped with stamps, which are also known in the Chinese domestic market from this time, the modeled decoration of some jugs proves that they were commissioned goods for the European market. The cargo of the Geldermalsen , also a merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company, which sank in January 1752 , contained more than 150,000 pieces of blue-and-white export china, 125 gold bars and ten Yixing teapots. In 1999, off the north coast of Java, the wreck of the Tek Sing , which sank in January 1822, was discovered, which, in addition to tens of thousands of pieces of porcelain, also had 2-300 Zisha jugs loaded. The cargo was probably intended for Chinese people living in other Southeast Asian countries. The excavators were able to distinguish ten different jug shapes, which were stamped on the floor with the seals of several potters. In 2001 the Desaru wreck was discovered off Johor , the cargo of which contained 150,000 blue and white porcelain spoons as well as a few hundred Zisha pots. The pieces were stamped with the pottery marks of around 30 different manufacturers. These finds show that only a few decades after their appearance in China, Zisha goods from Yixing were widely traded in large numbers and in a wide variety of shapes.
Cultural history
The history of the origins of the teapots from Yixing is connected to the technique of making tea by pouring boiling water over the tea leaves, which emerged during the late Yuan period (1279–1386), which replaced the older technique of frothing powdered green tea. This has been preserved in the Japanese tea ceremony to this day. Parallel to the emergence of the new method of preparation, the manufacture of teapots developed into a handicraft. According to legend, Gong Chun ( Chinese 供 春 ), servant of a monk in the Jinsha Temple in Yixing, formed a Zisha teapot that is now kept in the Chinese National Museum. In the shape of a flat sphere, the irregular surface with branched ribs imitates plant models. Zisha pottery owes its position in Chinese culture primarily to the close ties between artists and scholars during the late Ming and Qing dynasties and the central role that tea played in the culture of this social class. Scholars and nobles met to demonstrate their sophisticated taste and social status while drinking tea.
Descriptions of Yixing teapots first appeared in Chinese literature during the late Ming period. Zhou Gaoqi from Yangxian authored the time of Emperor Tianqi a treatise ((reg 1620-1627.) Chinese 阳羡茗壶系 , Pinyin Yáng xian ming hu xi - "Systematic presentation of teapots Yangxian [former name of Yixing]") on Zisha vessels.
Individual vessels from the Ming (1386–1644) and Qing times (1644–1912) can be dated by means of their pottery signatures and dates stamped or incised into the still soft clay. Since their shape and design have remained almost unchanged over time, it is often difficult to correctly date Yixing ware.
Material and design
Extraction and processing of Zisha clay
The clay found in the Yixing area is characterized by its sandy consistency. Zisha is extracted in the pits of the Huanglongshan (黄龙 山) and Zhaozhungshan Mountains (趙 荘 山). It consists of kaolin , quartz and mica with an iron oxide content of 7.4 to 8.7%. The iron oxide gives the clay its characteristic purple-brown color. Kaolin gives the clay its ability to be fired at high temperatures, as well as its hardness. The mica content is responsible for the characteristic sandy texture, the kaolin content ensures that the body does not melt into glass despite the high firing temperature (1100–1200 ° C), but remains approximately 1–2% porous.
The clay forms passages in the surrounding rock and is extracted from mines in chunks of around 5 to 20 kg. The traditional method was already described in the Ming period by Zhou Gaoqi in his systematic description : The clay chunks are first roughly crushed and then stored outdoors for years or even decades. The clay weathers and disintegrates into smaller pieces. The chunks are mashed into powder, which is sieved repeatedly and finally mixed with water. The clay mass, which has different grain sizes, structure and color depending on the mixture and processing, is cut into cuboids and stored underground under the exclusion of air for up to a year or longer. This practice is called 養土 'cultivating the earth'. For use, the clay blocks are again moistened with water, kneaded and beaten with a wide hammer until the mass becomes plastic and malleable. Quartz sand and finely crushed fired cullet are added in different proportions. This way the sound will shrink and warp less. This technology makes it possible to manufacture particularly tight-fitting clay lids for the jugs.
Yixing teapots are not pulled up on a fast-turning potter's wheel , but are built from rectangular cut clay plates on a rotating disk. A number of spatula and paddle-shaped wooden tools and rounded models are used to shape rounded jugs. One of the potter's hands supports the wall of the vessel from the inside, while the clay slab is knocked into the desired shape from the outside. Round shapes for the lid and base are cut out of clay slabs using calipers. Square jugs are assembled from individual plates. Their production requires special experience so that the individual plates do not warp during firing and destroy the jug. The surface is smoothed with horn scrapers. Coarser-grained components of the clay are pressed into the wall, creating a smooth surface that has a waxy sheen even without glaze. Handle, spout and ornaments are formed separately and attached with slip . The material properties of the Yixing clay allow it to be shaped so precisely that the lids of the vessels close very tightly. A hole in the lid knob allows a controlled air supply so that pouring can be precisely controlled. As early as the late 17th century, mass-produced jugs were pressed into hollow molds for export .
Burning process
A kiln excavated in Yangjiaoshan , which, judging by the vessels preserved in the up to 10 m thick shards, was in operation from the Song period until about the 19th century, was about 1 m wide, 10 m long and 2 m high. A similarly built kiln nearby was built after 1949 and remained in operation until the late 1960s. The kilns were always set up on a slope at an angle of approx. 23 degrees in order to generate a good draft in the tunnel. The roof had a semicircular or arched roof with several openings for the fuel. This construction of a traditional Chinese kiln is known as the " dragon pottery furnace ". The pottery was placed over the entire length of the furnace tunnel, with the highest firing temperatures being reached in the middle of the tunnel. Today's oil-fired tunnel kilns are up to 100 m long and 2–3 m high. The individual vessels are in saggars and placed on pallets on trolleys that move slowly through the oven. The highest temperatures are reached in the middle of the oven, then the items to be fired slowly cool down until the finished items are brought out at the other end of the oven. During the firing process, the clay develops a characteristic yellow, red or dark brown color. According to the resulting color of the body, the individual clays are called zisha ( purple sand , 紫砂 , zǐshā ), benshanlü ni (light brown clay, 本 山 绿 泥 ) or zhusha (light red sand, 朱砂 ). Alternatively there are also the terms zisha , hong ni (red clay, 紅泥 ) and duan ni (yellow, gray and green clay, 段 泥 ). The colors can be changed by combining different clay colors, adding mineral or vegetable dyes or firing at different temperatures.
The original clay mines in Yixing were exhausted by the 1990s and most of them were closed. Today, clay from other deposits in Jiangsu and Anhui is predominantly used to make Yixing goods . Old, well-stored and still usable clay blocks are occasionally traded at auctions. Nowadays , clays of fine and coarse texture prepared by machine in extruders are usually mixed in order to achieve the desired "velvety" surface. The finished clay mass is cut into ready-to-use blocks of 35 to 40 cm in length. Further processing is done by hand, as has been the case for 500 years, cheaper pieces are mass-produced using the slip casting process.
layout
The properties of the material allow the creation of unusual shapes and textures. The surfaces are decorated with incised, stamped or separately applied decor. Often there are forms derived from nature such as bamboo, sections of a tree trunk with leaves, nuts, fruits, or copies of archaic Chinese bronzes . Occasionally, Yixing goods are also decorated with overglaze enamel, the color palette of which includes light blue and the colors of the famille rose .
The potter Shi Dabin ( Chinese 時 大 彬 / 时 大 彬 , Pinyin Shí Dàbīn ), who lived at the time of the Ming emperor Wanli (1563–1620) and the first Qing emperor Shunzhi (1638–1661), developed the technique of building from a pounded flat Clay slabs that were joined to form a tube and shaped into round shapes using wooden modeling tools, or cut up and joined together to form square or hexagonal jugs. At this time the custom emerged of carving the potter's signature or a date into the bottom of the leather-hard dried vessel. Incised calligraphy on the walls has also been known since the second half of the 17th century . Towards the end of the 17th century, ornamentation developed with freely formed or molded ornaments, mostly plant tendrils. A group of four Yixing teapots in the Palace Museum in Beijing is decorated with handwritten calligraphy and the seals of Emperor Qianlong (1711–1799). The technique of enamel decoration emerged in the 18th century: three Yixing jugs from the time of Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722), which were enamelled in the colors of the famille rose, are kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei . Individual vessels have also been known since the 18th century that were coated with lacquer or metal after firing , the surface of which could in turn be decorated. In the 19th century, plant-based decorations (bamboo stalks, flowers), people and scenic representations were added. These vessels were mainly intended for export, but were also used in the country itself.
During the reigns of Emperors Jiaqing (ruled 1796-1820) and Daoguang (ruled 1820-1850), government official Chen Mansheng worked closely with master potters such as Chen Ming Yuan and Zhao Da Heng and a large group of scholars. Together they designed 18 classic shapes for Yixing pots, which today's potters also refer to in their designs. They combined pottery, poetry, calligraphy and seal cutting to make Yixing teapots an art.
| Some of the classic Shen Mansheng pitcher shapes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
The artistic design of a Yixing teapot must meet several requirements: The form must correspond to the function; the spout must allow a good pouring out; the handle must be easy to grip and hold and the lid must fit tightly. The size, center of gravity and balance of the jug should be appropriate, the spout should point straight ahead and be in line with the knob and handle. The opening of the spout must not be higher than the handle and the knob of the lid should be in the center of the vessel. Gu Jingzhou wrote:
“When designing a good teapot, the practical value is always in conflict with the aesthetic value. The potters have to make a choice between these opposites and find a harmonious balance in the creation of their work of art. "
Wu (2015) distinguishes between three basic design categories:
- Simple jugs in a minimalist shape, with smooth surfaces and good balance. Jugs of this type were designed by Shi Dabing in the Ming period and by Shao Dahen and Huang Yuling in the Qing period. A contemporary artist who preferred these shapes was Gu Jingzhou.
- Jugs with naturalistic decor, fruits, animals, plants. Such jugs were designed by artists such as Gong Chun, Chen Mingyuan, Zhu Kexin, Pei Shiming, Wu Yungen and Jiang Rong.
- Pumpkin-shaped pitchers that are divided into several equal parts. This design in clear, soft lines places special demands on the potter in order to achieve a tight seal on the lid.
Special properties
Traditionally, yixing pots are used to infuse oolong and pu-erh tea . On the one hand, the tea exerts an influence on the pot: lipophilic constituents of the infusion such as palmitic and stearic acid are deposited on the porous clay over time and create a waterproof film in and on the pot, which during the infusion in the Gong-Fu -Style is repeatedly doused with tea. By polishing with a cloth, the initially dull surface of Yixing teapots acquires a shiny patina over time .
On the other hand, the material of the pot also has an influence on the tea prepared in it: According to a Taiwanese study from 2018, tea infusions from Yixing teapots (Zisha and Zhuni clay) showed higher values for catechins (bitter substances) and a lower caffeine, potassium content. and mineral content proven than in infusions of the same tea in porcelain, glass, stainless steel or plastic jugs.
Export to Europe, influence on European ceramics
Tea has been exported to Europe since the early 17th century; In 1626 the Dutch East India Company ordered tea bowls from China for the first time, and in 1639 also teapots based on wooden models specially sent to China. In 1620 a teapot is mentioned in an inventory list of a Portuguese trader from Macau. The cargo of a ship sunk in the South China Sea in 1643 contained around 23,000 porcelain items, including 255 teapots. The first Yixing teapots preserved in Europe date from the late 17th century. A red clay Yixing jug appears in several of Pieter Gerritsz's paintings. van Roestraeten (1627-1698). Towards the end of the 1670s, Dutch ceramists such as Arij de Milde in Delft, John and David Elers in Staffordshire, England, and at the beginning of the 18th century Johann Friedrich Böttger in Meissen began to make teapots based on the models from Yixing. The red porcelain from Meissen is known as jasper porcelain or Böttger stoneware. In contrast to the Chinese technique, European teapots were made using the slip casting process. Even today, the models from Yixing inspire the work of western ceramists.
In modern China
During and after the Chinese Cultural Revolution , the production of traditional Zisha goods fell sharply. From 1950 to the 1980s, Yixing ceramics were only manufactured and traded in the state-controlled factories of the Yixing Ceramics Company and the Yixing Purple Clay Company. Artists like Jiang Rong (1919–2008), Gu Jingzhou and Zhu Kexin (1904–1986) were denounced as “class enemies” and “counterrevolutionaries” and were no longer allowed to pursue their work. Wu Yungen (1892–1969) committed after a public humiliation Suicide. During this time, the factories in Yixing produced items for the “revolutionary masses”, which were decorated with sayings from Mao Zedong , for example . In the 1960s and 1970s, Yixing earthenware was subject to limited overseas exports through the Arts & Crafts Import & Export Company of Jiangsu Province.
On September 2, 1979, the party newspaper Renmin Ribao published an article entitled "Yixing Ceramics Exhibition Opens in the Forbidden City." This exhibition - at which Yixing jugs were sold at high prices to foreign collectors - directed the political rehabilitation and revival of the traditional handicraft. Ren Ganting, Zhu Kexin, Pei Shimin, Wu Yungen, Wang Yinchun, Gu Jingzhou and Jiang Rong (the only female master potter in Yixing in the 1950s and 1960s) were officially rehabilitated. They received the title “Old Zisha Masters” and were again allowed to train young artists. In the course of the reforms of Deng Xiaoping during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese traditions that were regarded as "out of date" were revived and put in the service of the new political and economic goals. The production and use of Yixing ceramics was no longer considered a characteristic of the "exploiting class", but was propagated by the Chinese government as part of the cultural embodiment of " socialism with Chinese characteristics ". Since the 1980s, Zisha ceramics have been produced again in privatized former state and privately organized factories. In 1979 the Yixing Purple Clay Company exported goods directly abroad for the first time, to the Hong Kong trader and collector Kuei-hsiang Lo. Los book The stonewares of Yixing: From the Ming period to the present day (1986) is the first comprehensive treatise on the history of Yixing pottery published in English. In 2002 most of the ceramicists in Yixing were producing independently again, and the Yixing Purple Clay Company was privatized.
In the 1990s, Yixing goods attracted the attention of collectors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and since the late 1990s increasingly also in the newly emerging Chinese domestic market. Antique Yixing teapots have been offered in special auctions since 2011. Both antique jugs and handcrafted one-off pieces by well-known contemporary artists fetch high prices at specialized auctions. Some of the ceramists trained by the seven “Old Zisha Masters” are themselves highly distinguished artists today. These include the potter Wang Yinxian (* 1943), who is known for her naturalistically designed teapots in the classic tradition, and the potter He Daohong (* 1943), who designs his own, innovative shapes.
The ceramic industry in Yixing makes a significant contribution to the province's economic development. In 2013, according to official statistics from the Yixing administration, over 5000 professional artists were active in this field. Local tourism also attracts visitors, which in turn has a positive effect on the local infrastructure. In 1983 the Yixing Ceramics Museum was opened. The annual income of the local tourism industry increased from 9.456 billion RMB in 2010 to 12.044 billion RMB in 2011.
literature
- He Yun'ao, Zhu Bang: Yixing Zhisha . Xanadu Publishing Ltd, Epping, UK 2014, ISBN 978-1-78459-001-7 ( echinese.co.uk [PDF; accessed January 21, 2018]).
- Chunmei Li: Crafting Modern China: the Revival of Yixing Pottery. MA thesis . Ed .: OCAD University . 2013 ( ocadu.ca [PDF; accessed January 27, 2018]).
- Kuei-hsiang Lo: The stonewares of Yixing: From the Ming period to the present day . Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong 1986, ISBN 978-962-209-112-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- Marvin Sweet (Ed.): The Yixing effect: Echoes of the Chinese scholar . Foreign Languages Press, Beijing ( marvinsweet.com [PDF; accessed January 25, 2018]).
- Suzanne G. Valenstein: A handbook of Chinese ceramics . Ed .: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harry N. Abrams, New York 1988, ISBN 0-8109-1170-1 ( metmuseum.org [accessed January 22, 2018]).
- Fei Wu: Yixing Zisha pottery: Place, cultural identity, and the impacts of modernity. MA thesis . Ed .: Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta. 2015 ( ualberta.ca [PDF; accessed on January 26, 2018]).
Web links
- Global Tea Hut (68), September 2017. Extended edition: Yixing Teaware . Retrieved February 17, 2018. Numerous illustrations.
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Needham: Tea processing and utilization . In: Huang-Tsing Tsung (Ed.): Science and Civilization of China, Vol. 6, Part 5: Fermentations and food science . Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-65270-7 , pp. 561 ( monoskop.org [PDF; accessed February 4, 2018]).
- ^ William R. Sargent: Yixing ware and its influence on early European ceramics . In: Marvin Sweet (Ed.): The Yixing effect: Echoes of the Chinese scholar . Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, pp. 67-77 .
- ^ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), p. 13
- ↑ Valenstein (1989), p. 209
- ↑ Huang Chien Liang: Purple-sand art. Part 2: Archaeological discoveries . In: Global Tea Hut (68) . September 2017, p. 75-90 .
- ↑ He Yun'ao, Zhu Bang (2014), p. 15
- ↑ Wu (2015), p. 27
- ↑ Xiutang Xu, Gu Shan: 500 Years of Yixing Purple Clay Art . Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House, Shanghai 2009, p. 100 . , quoted from Li (2013), p. 9
- ↑ Wu (2015), p. 18
- ↑ He Yun'ao, Zhu Bang (2014), p. 8
- ↑ a b Valenstein (1988), p. 205
- ↑ Juan Wu et al .: An analysis of the chemical composition, performance and structure of China Yixing Zisha pottery from 1573 AD to 1911 AD . In: Ceramics International 39 (3) . 2013, p. 2589-2595 .
- ↑ a b c Huang Chien Liang: Purple-sand art. Part 1: From ore to clay & craft to artworks . In: Global Tea Hut (68) . September 2017, p. 35-46 .
- ↑ He Yun'ao, Zhu Bang (2014), pp. 127–155
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), p. 19
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), pp. 28-29
- ↑ Wu De: How to choose a Yixing teapot . In: Global Tea Hut (68) . September 2017, p. 35–55 ( globalteahut.org [PDF; accessed February 17, 2018]).
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), pp. 19-20
- ↑ Wu De: How to choose a Yixing teapot . In: Global Tea Hut (68) . September 2017, p. 52 .
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), p. 24
- ↑ Valenstein (1988), p. 268
- ↑ He Yun'ao, Zhu Bang (2014), pp. 17-19
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), pp. 33-34
- ↑ a b Chunfang Pan: Yixing pottery - The world of Chinese tea culture . Long River Press, San Francisco 2004, ISBN 978-1-59265-018-7 , pp. 62-63 .
- ↑ Kuei-hsiang Lo (1986), p. 26
- ↑ Li (2013), p. 20
- ↑ Wu (2015), p. 21
- ^ Tse-Yu Chung et al .: Analysis of lipophilic compounds of tea coated on the surface of clay teapots . In: Journal of Food and Drug Analysis 23 (1) . 2015, p. 71–81 , doi : 10.1016 / j.jfda.2014.05.005 .
- ↑ Zhi-Hui Liao et al .: Effect of teapot materials on the chemical composition of oolong tea infusions . In: J. Sci. Food Agric, 98 . 2018, p. 751-757 , doi : 10.1002 / jsfa.8522 .
- ^ Shirley Maloney Mueller: 17th Century Chinese Export Teapots: Imagination and Diversity . In: Orientations 36 (7) . 2005.
- ↑ John A. Burrisson: Global clay: Themes in World ceramic traditions . Indiana University Press, 2017, ISBN 978-0-253-03189-1 , pp. 80 .
- ↑ Marvin Sweet (Ed.): The Yixing effect: Echoes of the Chinese scholar . Foreign Languages Press, Beijing.
- ↑ Li (2013), p. 1
- ↑ Li (2013), p. 1
- ↑ Li (2013), p. 17
- ↑ Li (2013), pp. 1-4
- ↑ Li (2013), pp. 15-16
- ↑ Yixing teapot sold for $ 2 million , accessed January 25, 2018.
- ↑ Li (2013), pp. 26–31
- ↑ Li (2013), pp. 31-37
- ↑ Wu (2015), p. 29
- ^ Official website of the administration of Yixing, quoted by Wu (2015), p. 33