The Arthur J Harris Collection of Yixing, Part II


“Yixing teapots may have many shapes. They can be fat, level, lofty, low, big or small…. On examination of the quality some will be found to be warm and genial like an old gentleman, some brave as heroes, some stylish as men of letters, beautiful as pretty girls, lovely as children, small as pygmies, simple and slow like old men, jaunty and fanciful as fairies, austere as philosophers, others as unworldly as Buddhist monks; connoisseurs and collectors must love them in their hearts before one can discuss with them such delights.”


So wrote Chou Jiazhou at the end of the Ming dynasty, discussing the variety and diversity of the stoneware teapots produced in the Yixing region at the time. Arthur Harris’s collection contains examples from nearly all of Chou Jiazhou’s poetic categories, showing an unusually keen Occidental appreciation for these most Eastern of objects.


The area of Yixing, located in the Jiangsu province on the Eastern coast of China, has the perfect natural resources to have become the centre of teapot production. The large deposits of zisha clay gave rise to the manufacture of stoneware from as far back as the Han dynasty, while the fertile soil enabled the production of copious amounts of high quality tea. When the infusing method of tea-making became fashionable in the 15th century, it was only natural that Yixing use its resources to produce the necessary pots in the most artistic way possible.


From the late years of the Ming dynasty, Yixing teapots overtook their porcelain counterparts from Jingdezhen in popularity, principally because of the greater sensory experience involved in brewing tea in an Yixing pot. The porosity of the unglazed clay allows the tea to seep into the teapot’s walls, not only enriching the stoneware’s colour, but also stimulating the olfactory system with the mingled fragrance of warm, damp stoneware and infusing tea leaves. Aficionados believe an Yixing teapot should never be washed, but simply rinsed, while some claim that tea can be made purely by pouring boiling water into a well-used pot.


1.


A small octagonal Yixing teapot and cover, 17th/18th


century, each side applied with a large peony spray, the cover with stylized cloud scrolls, two seal marks to the base, a little restoration to the cover, 11.8cm. (2)


£2,500-3,500 Provenance: the Arthur J Harris collection.


2.


as a flattened lotus bud and moulded with quatrefoil panels of lotus, 12cm. (2)


Provenance: the Arthur J Harris collection.


A small Yixing teapot and cover, early 18th century, modelled £1,500-2,000


4


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