Development of Yixing pottery

Unlike glazed porcelain wares of Jingdezhen, the teapot of Yixing did not enjoy Imperial patronage and the court had no influence in its development. The real patrons of Yixing teapots were the intellectual class of scholars who lived around the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui during the 16th down to the 19th century. It was therefore the intellectual class which had the greatest influence over its development.



Gong Chun by Grand Master Xu

This is evident right from the beginning starting with Gong Chun, the pioneer potter who first made teapots for scholars. Gong Chun was a servant boy to Wu Yishan who was a scholar. It was on the occasion of accompanying Wu to the Jingsha temple that he first learned to make teapots. Wu went there to prepare for the Imperial Exam which was held once every three years. Gong went along to attend to his personal needs. On one occasion, from afar he witnessed the process of teapot making by a monk.  It was said that one day he took a lump of zisha clay and made a teapot. Presumably he also made one for his master who must have shown it to his friends who in turn asked Gong to make teapots for their own use. This was how the fashion started and then spread trough the country. Gong Chun, starting life as a domestic servant, could not have received much education and therefore unable to write his own name, not at least in good hand writing. So, he must have sought the help of his master to write it for  him and crave it on the bottom of the pot which he made. Thus, having the name of the potter carved on the base of the pot in beautiful calligraphy in the style of kaishu (formal calligraphy, not the cursive type) became one of the distinctive features of the Ming dynasty teapots. In those days, it was an honour and privilege to possess a teapot made by the legendary Gong Chun. It was said that it was easier to possess gold and silver than a pot by Gong Chun. You could imagine how valuable and previous were the teapots of Gong Chun. No wonder in 1926 when a collector accidentally found one pot by Gong, it was recorded that people from British Museum was willing to pay 20000 sterling pounds for it. Also during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the Japanese were trying very hard to locate the person who owned the pot by Gong Chun. The owner eventually donated the Gong Chun pot to a museum in China.

Gong Chun's pot

When master potter Shi Dabin, a student of Gong Chun, came unto the scene about the middle of the 16th century, even he had to seek the help of scholars to write his name and engraved onto the teapots he made. But he soon learned to do it himself and he did it so well that he could carve straight onto the teapots without first writing it in ink and brush on the pots. It was said that in his later life, he could wield his carving knife as if he was holding a brush pen.

Monk Hat design created by Shi Dabin