Northern Song Dynasty. Early Purple Clay Period. In 1976, an ancient purple clay kiln site was discovered on Yangjiao Mountain, Dingshu Town, Yixing. Unearthed fragments of early purple clay tea set, after examination, the upper limit of the age of the Northern Song Dynasty in the middle. This discovery proves: the production of Yixing purple clay ware, has a history of nearly a thousand years.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, according to the Ming Zhou Gaoqi, “Yang envy teapots Department of the founding”: Jinsha Temple (in the southwest of the town of Yixing Lake father, for the Tang Dynasty phase Lu Xisheng mountain room) monks. Wrestling purple sand and fine soil, searching and building for the tire, gauge, and round, router to make the hollow. Heel pinch the mouth, handle, and cover made into a pot. The pot was then fired in a ceramic cave. It was then passed down to the people.
It is difficult to find out the exact date of the monk of Jinsha Temple. Inferred to be slightly earlier than the GONGCHUN years, in the Chenghua ~ Hongzhi years (1465 ~ 1505).
Ming dynasty zhengde a jiajing between (1506 a 1566), according to “Yixing county record”: Ming zhengde, there are pots master GONGCHU, made of purple clay tea set, novel and exquisite: warm and elegant natural, thin and firm. The famous, made “tree gall sand pot” for the world’s treasure, is now hidden in the Chinese History Museum.
Kangxi ~ Yongzheng Qing Dynasty (1662 ~ 1735), purple clay master Chen Mingyuan for the most famous, made by the teapots, good at discovering new styles, good at carving, skillful, unconventional ideas, color matching fantastic. Melon and sand pots are the world’s best works. Produced tea sets, and furnishings have dozens of different types.
In the fourth year of the Qing dynasty Guangxu (1878, the twelfth year of the Japanese Meiji), Yixing purple clay master Wu Agen, Jin Shiheng, was invited by the famous ceramics craftsman of the Japanese country Tsuneke Takasu Carp River. East to Japan. Teaching the art of purple clay pot making, scholars include Carp River Fangshou, Sugie Shoumen, and Ina Nagashi.
Republic of China six years (1917) in April. Jiangsu Provincial Pottery Factory was established in Shushan, Yixing. Recruitment of ceramic experts and skilled workers to produce purple clay ware. Research and improvement of purple clay quality, clay color and shape, etc. At that time, there were seventeen staff technicians. There were more than forty apprentices, and the annual output was 120,000 pieces of pottery, flower pots, stationery, jars and tripods.
Republic of China twenty-one years (1932), alabaster practitioners amounted to more than six hundred people, a total of 140 kilns burned alabaster utensils throughout the year annual output of 2.2 million pieces of the annual output value of 420,000 yuan, the product sold well in Japan, Southeast Asia, and other countries. This is the year, for nearly a hundred years Yixing purple clay production of the year of special prosperity.
In 1977, in the United States, New York organized the “Yixing Purple Clay Ceramics Exhibition”. Attention from all walks of life. Especially highly praised by the tea industry.
Purple clay teapots are handmade earthenware crafts unique to China, and their production began during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty. The raw material for the production is purple clay, which originated in Dingshu Town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province. Since the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, purple clay has been made into teapots, and famous masters have come out of the woodwork, and there have been fine works of art handed down over the past 500 years.
Yixing Purple Clay teapots have a long history of being both ornamental, artistic and practical, and are therefore loved by the world.
Yixing Zisha pots are more famous all over the world. People who like to drink tea can learn more about it to help choose a Yixing Zisha pot that suits them better. In the next article, I will explain the classification of Yixing Zisha pots, so stay tuned.
Reference:
1.https://m.51pot.com/?module=m_knowledge_detail&id=604