1. Making tea without losing its original flavor is good in color, aroma and taste, which can make tea more mellow.
2. The longer the purple sand ware is used, the brighter the body will be, because the tea itself can also carry the pot during the brewing process.
3. Purple sand ware has good hot and cold rapidity, that is, it can be burned on fire or used in microwave oven without bursting.
4. Slow heat transfer, heat preservation, and will not feel hot after use.
5. The green body can absorb the aroma of tea, and the teapot that often makes tea occasionally does not put tea, and its water also has the aroma of tea.
6. The mud color of the teapot is related to the tea that is often brewed. When soaking black tea, the teapot will change from reddish brown to reddish brown, and when soaking green tea, the teapot will change from reddish brown to brown. The color of the pot is rich and varied, which is quite intriguing.
7. Yixing purple sand has good plasticity, and it is not easy to deform when it is fired in the kiln. When it is molded, it can be made into various shapes at will, so that the patterns such as flowers and ribs of purple sand vessels are self-contained.
8. Unique air permeability. The flowerpot is breathable and impermeable, and the cultivated flowers and trees are easy to survive and not easy to rot. In addition, it has good air permeability, and it is not easy to spoil the taste of tea, and overnight tea will not spoil.
Since the late Ming Dynasty, due to the scarcity of writings and documents about teapot and the scarcity of items with definite dates found in underground archaeology, it is difficult to identify the authenticity of teapot. From the mid-Ming Dynasty, the servant Xian Quan began to learn pot-making skills from the old monk of Jinsha Temple, and most of them were inherited by his father and master and apprentice. All these steps are operated by one person, and their modeling design is entirely based on personal artistic hobbies. This is a completely independent operation and a purely personal workshop-style folk art production. It is also an indisputable fact that masterpieces of all ages were copied at that time. It is difficult for us to distinguish contemporary imitations. In addition, in the early years of the Republic of China, almost all the masters of purple sand were hired to Shanghai, carefully imitating the works of famous artists in previous dynasties and burning countless works. These imitations are so high that they can be confused with the original. These works still exist today, which brings some difficulties to our appraisal work today. ?
In recent decades, with the unremitting efforts of many experts and scholars at home and abroad, combined with the verification of underground cultural relics, the identification of the production age of teapot has also been greatly improved. Basically, we can comprehensively analyze the approximate age of the works according to sand quality, color, processing techniques, modeling and many other aspects, and there will be no big gap.
The making of teapot in Ming and Qing dynasties is a family-style workshop system, and the utensils mainly reflect purple sand.
Pumpkin pot (2 pieces)
The artist's personal style, or strict rules, or extensive and heroic, or simple and simple, or gorgeous decoration. "Famous teapots have been famous since ancient times" means that the style of pots is the same as that of ancient literati, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, but it is by no means the same. Artists show their personalities from different angles and levels. Each has its own characteristics, forming a huge difference in personality in the same era. The identification of teapot is still in the exploratory stage, which can be considered from five aspects.
(A), the practicality of the teapot
Teapots are used for making and pouring tea. Therefore, when purchasing, you may wish to consider the actual function first. Excellent practical function refers to the appropriate volume and capacity, convenient handle, smooth water outlet from the spout, and convenient tea tasting and making. Therefore, the purchase of teapot should be based on personal tea drinking habits, considering the capacity of teapot, the smoothness of spout, the comfort of handle and so on. Because, through comfortable use, it can produce emotions, delight the body and mind, never tire of playing, and make people cherish it.
(2), the teapot technology
The craft of teapot refers to the technical level of making, and it is also the standard to judge the artistic quality of teapot. A good teapot should be in harmony with the overall proportion of the teapot body besides the flow, handle, button, cover, shoulder, abdomen and circle, and the transition of points, lines and surfaces should be clear and smooth. It is still necessary to examine its artistic level from four aspects: mud, shape, style and skill.
Mud:
The uniqueness of teapot lies in the superiority of making raw material purple sand. Therefore, judging the quality of teapot depends on the quality of mud it uses. Although the change of mud color only brings people visual differences, it has nothing to do with its function. However, as far as the usage habits are concerned, the teapot can achieve the effect of pleasing the mind by constantly touching and tasting tea and feeling comfortable. Good purple sand mud has the remarkable characteristics of "not bright in color but not greasy in quality". Therefore, the quality of purple sand should be considered when purchasing purple sand pots.
Work:
It refers to the functional beauty of pot art, which is different from the appeal point of practical function. Over the years, the mainland market has gradually opened up, and a large number of Taiwanese businessmen have intervened in the purple sand market, which has made the sand pot market flourish and new sand pot products have emerged. It's just an innovative work of purple sand artists, which only talks about the formal beauty of modeling and ignores the functional beauty of use. Some artists don't drink tea themselves, and they know little about their drinking habits, which directly affects the function of the sand pot. I believe that in the process of making tea and tasting tea, some sand pots have already appeared a major defect of "looking good but not using it". The functional beauty of teapot is mainly manifested in four aspects: moderate capacity, appropriate height, tight cover and smooth water outlet. According to the tea drinking habits of families in Taiwan Province Province, generally two to five people get together to drink, and the capacity of 350 ml is better. No matter how easy the hand is, it is also called "one-handed pot".
Shape:
That is, the image of the pot, that is, the shape and style. Zisha pots have a variety of shapes, including colorful and perfect shapes, which bring together the creative wisdom and hard work of artists of all ages, and are known as "different squares and different circles". As for which shape and style to choose, it is difficult to decide because everyone's psychological needs are different. However, since the teapot is a part of the whole tea culture, the artistic conception it pursues should belong to the artistic conception of "cleaning up the noise, being indifferent to ambition and being detached and refined" pursued by the tea ceremony. However, "Gu Zhuo is simple and elegant" is in line with the artistic conception of tea ceremony culture, so the shape of teapot should be the best expression of Gu Zhuo atmosphere.
Paragraph:
That is, the pot money. Payment for teapots has always been very particular. It is different from the stamp pattern of general works. Because of the rhyme style of pot art and the simultaneous interpretation of painting and calligraphy art, the stamps used are often from the hands of a generation of famous lithograph seal engravers. Appreciation of teapot has two meanings: one is to identify the author of teapot; Appreciate the carved poems, paintings and seals (stone seal cutting) first. The decorative art of teapot combines the artistic features of China traditional art "poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal". Therefore, to appreciate a teapot, we should not only pay attention to clay sculpture, modeling and production skills, but also include literature, calligraphy, painting and epigraphy, which will bring more beautiful enjoyment to every teapot lover.
systems modelling
For the identification of teapot, we must first make clear the characteristics of teapot modeling and the law of evolution and development in each period. Its modeling can be divided into three categories. The first category is bare products, which are the works of most designers. The second category is flower goods that imitate animals and plants. The third type is rib modeling, which is characterized by various edges and corners on the basis of bare goods, mostly ribs at the mouth and handle. There are not many styles of teapot in Ming Dynasty, mostly round, ribbed, Gu Zhuo and round. Most pots are lifted by beams, which can be divided into hard lifting and soft lifting. They are not wide and flat, light and plain, but they are less gorgeous and closer to people's lives. In the early Qing dynasty, the shape of a casserole appeared, which was specially designed for the court and the royal family. Modeling is mostly natural and geometric. Other folk practical pots are small in shape, short in process, small in ear handle and exquisite in shape; At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the shapes and styles of sand pots increased, and there were many additional decorations, mostly imitating ancient masters, without much innovation in form.
Fetal mass
The fetal quality of teapot is specifically mud. The mud in different periods is different, and the color and texture of different mud are also different. The mud used in the teapot in the Ming Dynasty contained granular coarse sand, which gave people a rough feeling, which was also the reason why the technology of mud refining and pottery washing was relatively backward at that time. According to relevant data, the mesh number of purple clay in Ming Dynasty was 25-30 mesh, in the middle of Qing Dynasty it was 55-60 mesh, and in modern times it was 100- 120 mesh. The lower the mesh number, the coarser the particles, the greater the porosity, and the sound of tapping with fingers is hoarse and stuffy. The surface of pottery pots in the Ming Dynasty was dull. Because most of them are unearthed from tombs, the carcass absorbs the moisture and moisture underground, and the surface loses its luster. 1965 The pot unearthed from the tomb of Jason Wu, eunuch of Li Si in Ming Dynasty outside Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing is the earliest teapot in China. The pottery clay material of this pot is the same as that of 1976 Yangjiaoshan site. Clay material is very thick, close to the tube tire, causing raw burning and fire defects. Because it was fired in the kiln with the jar, there was a small amount of glaze tears on the pot. The clay used for making cans in the Ming Dynasty was only a little improvement on the clay originally used for making jars and urns. There are many impurities, so the surface of the object is very rough. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the mud was still rough, mostly containing shiny mica, with thick side walls.
Bamboo pot (2 pieces)
In the Qing dynasty, the overall refining process of clay was improved, and purple sand fine mud appeared. In the mid-Qing dynasty, the bones of pot tires were solid and moist, and the mud was still solid in the later period, but the color was not as moist and dry as in the middle period. Our identification of clay is a very important link in the dating of teapot. In addition, there are differences in mud color. The clay in the Ming Dynasty was purplish red (Dahongpao), and the clay in the Qing Dynasty was more colorful. In addition to the above two kinds, there is also a kind of purple sand with pear skin inside, called "pear blossom spot" or "osmanthus sand" The former is thicker than the latter, and some people collectively call it "pear skin". "Pear Blossom Point" was more common in the early Qing Dynasty, and "Osmanthus fragrans Sand" was more common in Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. After the Republic of China, the colors of purple sand increased, such as dark green and black. Modern purple sand ware pays attention to the consistency of raw materials and color modeling. For example, if it is shaped into a bronze, it is made of bronze mud and sand. Because the teapot is often rubbed, over time, the surface will be bright, commonly known as "patina". This is also an auxiliary means to identify the time distance in our identification work.