ZiNi Olive Teapot #004

Yixing, a city in Jiangsu Province on the western shore of Lake Tai (Taihu), is the historic home of Chinese zisha (紫砂, “purple sand”) teaware. Since the Ming dynasty, potters here have worked the region's rare stoneware clays — zhuni, zini, duanni and luni — into unglazed teapots made for gongfu tea. Fired without glaze, the dense yet porous body retains heat well and is said to round out and concentrate a tea's aroma over years of use, which is why gongfu drinkers often dedicate a single pot to one type of tea. Yixing remains the benchmark for Chinese teapot making, its output ranging from plain scholar's forms to highly collectible studio work.