Tradition
Yixing
China · 15th century – present
Purple clay teapots. Where tea becomes ritual.
The world's most famous teapots are never glazed—because the clay itself is the point.
Yixing has been producing stoneware teapots from local zisha ('purple sand') clay since the Ming dynasty. The clay is remarkable: dense, fine-grained, and naturally porous in ways that enhance the tea-brewing experience. A Yixing pot seasons over time, absorbing tea oils until it can almost brew tea without leaves. Traditionally, each pot is dedicated to a single type of tea. Master potters' work commands enormous prices; the forms are copied but never quite matched.
What object in your life has been seasoned by years of use?
Techniques
- Slab building
- Unglazed stoneware
- Detailed finishing
- Stamping