http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=18536
By strict definition, most, or all of the teapots showed in that discussion are not yixing teapots - they are not made of the authentic yixing clay.
But there are many authentic yixing teapots that are hate-able. And in my eyes, some authentic yixing teapots made by famous yixing artists are also hate-able. This last kind, because of the "halo" on them, I hate them even more than hating straightly bad teapots. And of course me hating them doesn't mean any final evaluation on them. I'm an art illiterate and hate many contemporary art works - I love many of them too, but some of them really strike my nerves.
Here are a few examples. All from the famous yixing book written by Han Qilou. By the way, this is one of the best yixing books in the least expensive price range. It has pictures of hundreds of yixing teapots, both antique and contemporary, all made by famous artists. Some of the contemporaries are beautiful. Some, I hate.
This is one of the most hated by me. The title of this teapot is "source of life".
It's not that I dislike breast shape teapots. I like the traditional xishi style very well.
This is one I like:
This is another one that I like:
This is yet another one that I like:
And I like wendan, a relative of xishi style in the breast-shaped family:
But... "source of life"... really??? It's a well-made teapot and I have biased taste. I just hate it.
Another two that I hate. The one on top (left) is "cheetah". I admire the author's effort to make a yixing teapot that barely looks like of yixing texture. But I just hate it.
The one on bottom (right) is "2008 Olympics". There is a world map on the lid, Olympic logos all over the teapot, and some traditional cloud pattern on the spout and handle. This is one of the busiest teapots I've ever seen, considering how many symbols it has to carry on itself. I admire the author's effort of trying to be "inclusive", be timely and be politically correct. But I just hate it.
None of them is "bad" teapot. But they rank high on my "most hated" yixing teapots list.
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7 comments:
Do you think whoever owns that pot drinks straight from the spout?
I wonder if they have the opposite version.
Haha~ that's an interesting thought! Actually in the old days many green tea drinkers have person teapots and drink directly from the spout :-D
I don't think this author made an opposite version but remember seeing another modern yixing with a combined male and female spirits. But that one is more abstract and less documentary than this one :-p
It's widely believed that Yixing Teapots is the best vessels from brewing tea from China.
Dear Andy, some teapots on your website looks very nice! However, I realize that many of them have same photos as those on another renowned online tea store, while the photos are smaller and prices are lower. Would you please clarify if these are exactly the same teapots that you've got from the other tea store? Either way, I believe many tea drinkers would like to know the facts. Thanks.
Hi "Life in Teacup",
Let's not get too wind-up on the bad bits on Yixing pots... I have a few of this pots (mostly artist/craftsman grade) and enjoy the odd cups of raw Pu'erh tea. See my facebook page if you have a moment.(since I can't attach file) Here is a "XiShi" on show. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200257536865740&set=a.3886548406833.2136054.1372605452&type=1&theater
I guess we collect(or buy) things for different reasons, and how we go about about doing so. I started buying this pots 7-8 years ago by chance. Whenever I have time or visits Far East I always look up a tea house or museum relate to the subject. I now have over 60 of them :-)
Cheers,
George
PS:I've a couple of typo error on the last post, hence the rewrite
George, thank you for sharing! However, I couldn't open the link. Could you post another link so that I could see your teapots? Thanks! Indeed I like most of the breast-shaped teapots :-)
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