Our Cao Family's 曹家 Ben Shan Lü Ni 本山绿泥 and Min Guo Lü Ni 民国绿泥: Open for your Commissioning.

Dearest Friends, we are GRANDLY availing our Cao Family of Ben Shan Lü Ni 本山绿泥 and Ming Guo Lü Ni 明国绿泥 to all esteemed patrons,

Our grandfather was in the business and work of exploring, excavation and processing of ZiSha ores in the 1920s to 1950s before Socialist China began

~~~ and it spawned the next generation, our uncles and aunts: Cao Ya Lin, Cao Yan Ping, Cao Lan Fang, Cao An Xiang who resolved to make a name for themselves by committing to ZiSha Artwork, and they succeeded tremendously, climbing the echelons of the ZiSha Art Fraternity, gaining accreditation, standing and repute, and serving the ZiSha community with their glorious works.
~~~ We have 22 warehouses of ZiSha ores in our stock, and we supply ZiSha ores, processed & finished ore("clay")-bricks to even our neighbouring Grand Masters and Masters in YiXing.

We hereby grandly avail BOTH

1）Ben Shan Lü Ni 本山绿泥, AND,

2)  Min Guo Lü Ni 民国绿泥 clays for your personal heritage collection!

You, our dear friend and patron, are greatly welcomed to decide on the Pot shape/Model, AND the volume.

Of course, 

Whether you choose to have a Ben Shan Lü Ni or Ming Guo Lü Ni work, it will be signed off and be authorised by any of our Cao Family of Artists whom you choose to commission to make your Art Piece, e.g. Grand Master Cao Ya Lin, Grand Master Cao Yan Ping, Senior Master Cao An Xiang, Senior Master Cao Lan Fang, or her son Artist Assoc Master Zhang Ke (our cousin).  For Austere class works, and for the best affordability AND OF EXEMPLARY WORKMANSHIP, we recommend Assoc Master Zhang Ke:

BELOW Six File photos taken in early FEBRUARY 2023 of Zhang Ke working on our Cao Family's Ben Shan Lü Ni:

This is our Cao Family's own precious, authentic Ben Shan Lü Ni.
This is our clay brick which we have painstakingly processed carefully from Ben Shan Lü Ni ore, very precious to us:

This is the BSLN 生胚 "Sheng Pei", i.e. unfired work:
This is the BSLN 成品 "Cheng Pin", i.e. fired work, on the left.  This pot has undergone TWO times of firing, and will be fired the third time shortly after this photo is taken (ZiSha pots are usually fired three times, not once, seldom twice, sometimes four times):
You can also see the difference in size, before (right) and after (left) firing, testament to ZiSha's shrinkage upon firing: This is a Zi Ye Shi Piao preordered by our patron too, fired three times and due for delivery: 

EACH OF THESE COMMISSIONED WORKS WILL COME WITH OUR ARTIST'S CERTIFICATE signed off by the Artist, stating the Clay Type, and with our Cao Family's Sticker of authenticity signed off by: Cao An Xiang 曹安祥.  Very importantly too: EACH OF THESE WORKS WITH ITS CERTIFICATE will come with a serial number, e.g. 00314, 00315, to safeguard YOUR WORK off any forgery taking from our Cao Family's works.  These works commissioned by you, MADE WITH OUR CAO FAMILY BEN SHAN LÜNI, are recorded in our Cao Family's record book, stating the serial number with the corresponding work, made out to the owner(name).

Premier Master Cao An Xiang is the World's Premier ZiSha Artist for Heritage Religious creations for countless Buddhist and Taoist Temples in China:

 This is the latest major presentation to Fu Xi Tao Temple in June 2020:

Our dear Uncle, Cao An Xiang, is seated rightmost in this photo:

His works are countless, donated to more than 100 temples in China, and the full list can be found in his section here: https://www.realzisha.com/collections/%E6%9B%B9%E5%AE%89%E7%A5%A5-%E7%B4%AB%E7%A0%82%E9%A6%99%E7%82%89%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%BA-cao-an-xiang-worlds-premier-famous-zisha-religious-xianglu-master

This is one set of which was auctioned in Year 2017 at 北京巨力(秋季)拍卖会 at US$1.02mil:

His works, mainly Duan Ni 段泥 and Lü Ni 绿泥: 

 Our very own Uncle,

He is our Uncle, and hence we share with you our Cao family photo recently taken, with his daughter (our cousin) and his grandsons! :-D

Here is a Ben Shan Lü Ni work crafted by Assoc Master Zhang Ke, two of which have been passed to our patrons in Feb and Dec 2022:

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NEXT, and, drum roll.  This matter is close to our chest: the subject of Ming Guo Lü Ni 明国绿泥.

WE constantly do our best for all of you friends.

Dear Friends, this is the moment we have been waiting for a good number of years, eight years in fact, that we can avail pre-booking, pre-orders for Ming Guo Lü Ni pots.

The rarity of authentic Ben Shan Lü Ni, have been elucidated in our main page post titled “_MORE UPDATES: AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE_”.   Thus, here, we will spend more effort explaining Ming Guo Lü Ni if you choose to explore and purchase a MGLN work.

MGLN, it is very close to our chest.  Here we properly explain MGLN, to you: the correct information, its origins, how it is formed, its rarity and revered status in the fraternity.  Come, hop on! :-D

Min Guo, 民国, means the Republic era 1912-1949.
Lü, 绿, means green.

IT IS written in the folklore and the ZiSha fraternity, that a Potter and Artist named Wang Shi Jie 王世杰 during the Republic era, have an idea, “if the Potters that create porcelain works had mixed in Cobalt Oxide powder (ore) to create the ink to paint on porcelain works that will create a bluish~green effect after firing, why not I mix in Cobalt Oxide powder into ZiSha clay?

He worked it, succeeded and the result is a beautiful bluish-greenish in the finished ZiSha pots he crafted.  

Herein lies the birth of the Ming Guo Lü, “Republic Era Green”, in the storied fraternity of ZiSha Art.

Legendary Masters like Gu Jing Zhou, Wang Win Xian, Zhu Ke Xin had, in their times, made sure that they crafted some works with this Ming Guo Lü.

This PRIZED Min Guo Lü 民国绿 work is in our hands, and is available for sale.  This is the legendary Grand Master Wang Yin Xian's 汪寅仙 : Nan Gua work 南瓜壶, and this is the ONLY PIECE that she had ever made.  The lucky patron will also receive personal certification by her son Provincial Grand Master and L1 Yao Zhi Yuan: THIS is our family RealZiSha's standards of extreme Gold Standard service for all works from Grand Masters, sadly deceased and missed, or alive: 

This is Provincial Grand Master of Ceramic Arts and L1 Yao Zhi Yuan 姚志源:

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However, to have a proper MGL ZiSha work, is not easy at all.

Our Cao Family have 22 warehouses of ZiSha ore, accrued since the 1920s of ZiSha ore excavation and storage, and our Grand Masters and Masters Cao Ya Lin, Cao Yan Ping, Cao An Xiang being reputable and experienced in ZiSha Lian Ni (Processing).

We are very careful with what we sell to friends and patrons, and this is to preserve our quality, name and reputation:

Achieving the top quality Min Guo Lü Ni clay for pot making to firing achieving exemplary results, has proved elusive in the past eight years.

Cobalt Ores are generally purchased from Germany, Holland, Middle East, etc, to be mixed~churned in Ben Shan Lü Ni clay.  We have tried in the past eight years as well.  The last time we had succeeded was in year 2014, and this is one of the pots that was made then, it happens to be a batch of Germany Cobalt ore we had procured (and mixed in our Cao Family Ben Shan Lü Ni):…

This is a successful Min Guo Lü Ni pot crafted by Zhang Ke in year 2014 for one of our patrons:

We made about thirty pots from that batch during that year 2014, for our patrons.
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After that batch of success, since year 2015 year in ~ year out, we have been purchasing Cobalt ores from various reputable sources, but the results have not been ideal.  Test pieces showed up deficiencies or just unsatisfactoriness in a variety of parameters, e.g. the colour and texture emanated.

Just as many prized minerals cannot be 100% in extraction, e.g. Ag silver 92.5% in jewellery, 99.9% in ingots; Cu copper revered in high fidelity audio systems cabling also up to 6 nines 99.999999%,

... Cobalt ore powder supplied to the Potter industry, is NEVER 100% in purity.  (We are also not CATL or LG Chem making NCM batteries, they who can afford and able to chemically prepare top, pure and chemical grade Cobalt in making Lithium NCM batteries for EV cars).

Yes, we have tried EVERY year 2015, 2016, 2017 till 2021 getting the top grades of purified Cobalt ore powder from various sources, but could not achieve the high standards and result we want to achieve. 

Finally by the November 2022, we succeeded…

We achieved the beautiful AND the 100%, of what we wanted to achieve in the test firing pieces.  

BELOW Six File photos taken in mid-FEBRUARY 2023 of Zhang Ke working on this latest hard-worked brick of Min Guo Lü Ni (made with our own Cao Family's Ben Shan Lü Ni of course!):

Close up photos taken of 1)the Ming Guo Lü Ni clay brick, 2)the Cobalt Ore Powder (in the small bowl) from Germany, and 3)one of the latest successful Min Guo Lü Ni works "Tian Gua" 甜瓜 just completed in early February 2023) 

Besides the above pot shown, we have succeeded and below are another two successful Min Guo Lü Ni works: TWO Jing Zhou Shi Piao pots, made and proudly delivered to our happy patrons!:
Assoc Master Zhang Ke's beautiful Min Guo Lü Ni, Jing Zhou Shi Piao:

Now we show you the beautiful, authentic, inimitable and natural patina formation of a high quality ZiSha material pot:
Below are two photos of two Ming Guo Lü JingZhou ShiPiaos.  Fresh from the firing kiln.  On the left is one which has not touched any water/tea steeping at all, and on the right is the one which clocked three weeks of use.  They look VERY different on our hands, but here you can already bear witness to the vast difference in colour, and with the beautiful patina formed:

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Yes, after trying for eight years, in Nov 2022, we finally succeeded.  The resultant Min Guo Lü Ni colour, homogeneity, finishing and texture are all tops.  Assoc Master Zhang Ke has crafted these two so far which you have just seen: two Jing Zhou Shi Piao.   And a Zi Ye Shi Piao is just out and about to be delivered to a patron.  His mother Senior Master Cao Lan Fang has also crafted a few for our few regular patrons in China.

Thus,
DEAREST FRIENDS,
We proudly present:

Min Guo Lü Ni works using our exemplary Cao Family Ben Shan Lü Ni clay mixed with this good batch of German processed Cobalt ore.

Welcoming your kind patronage of Assoc Master Zhang Ke.

Dearest Friends, we are hereby happy to bring this worldwide and available for you, our Cao Family's Ben Shan Lü Ni and a good few bricks of MGL clay thus to work on,
and we hereby open orders for you to purchase an Assoc Master Zhang Ke crafted and authored pot, and made to your preferred Austere shape/model and to your preferred volume (generally between 150ml to 250ml):

~ Ben Shan Lü Ni 本山绿泥 model of your choice, for your commissioning, is $1130 per piece,

~ Ben Shan Lü Ni 本山绿泥 model of your choice with thin-walled construction/technique 薄胎工艺 which Zhang Ke has mastered from Grand Master Chen Guo Liang (example of this technique as shown in the two balanced and floatable Shui Ping pot recently availed on our website and sold to two of our patrons) is $1285.

~ Min Guo Lü Ni 民 国绿泥 model of your choice commissioned, and yours for $1390.

Additional engraving/inscription can be arranged.  We are happy to please.

Video certification as usual, and paper certification with your name written and signed by Assoc Master Zhang Ke, with the adjoining sticker of authentication and endorsement by Premier Master Cao An Xiang.

Thank you dearest Friends for following us on this journey of ZiSha.

Call on us at realzisha@gmail.com for your booking and commissioning for Assoc Master Zhang Ke for your delightful Ben Shan Lü Ni ZiSha work and/or your Ming Guo Lü Ni ZiSha work.

Again, dearest Friends,
EACH OF THESE COMMISSIONED WORKS WILL COME WITH OUR ARTIST'S CERTIFICATE signed off by the Artist, stating the Clay Type, and with our Cao Family's Sticker of authenticity by Cao An Xiang 曹安祥.  Very importantly too: EACH OF THESE WORKS WITH ITS CERTIFICATE will come with a serial number, IN AN ABSOLUTELY INIMITABLE FORM, to safeguard YOUR WORK off any forgery taking from our Cao Family's works.  These works commissioned by you, MADE WITH OUR CAO FAMILY BEN SHAN LÜNI, are recorded in our Cao Family's record book, stating the serial number with the corresponding work, made out to the owner(name).

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Part of Zhang Ke's community work.  His further recent donations to two monks, known to be famous Living Buddhas in China.

With esteeemed Tibetan Living Buddha, 活佛, 才旦堪布: With esteemed Living Buddha, Zhu Kang, 活佛, 珠康:

Premier Master Cao An Xiang 曹安祥 who will endorse your Ben Shan Lü Ni / Ming Guo Lü Ni work made with Ben Shan Lü Ni.
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Further facts:
Min Guo Lü must be achieved with Cobalt mixed with BEN SHAN LÜ NI.

Min Guo Lü cannot be Cobalt mixed with ZiNi for the result will be too dark.

Min Guo Lü cannot be Cobalt mixed with DuanNi for the result will be too sandy.  However many retailers/potters carelessly make it with DuanNi as such, because BSLN is too rare and expensive for them, and also too challenging for them to craft up.  They very often callously mix Cobalt with DuanNi to make so-called but not ideal: "Ming Guo Lü" pots.

Ben Shan Lü Ni itself is a very flimsy clay type to work on, very, very challenging to the Artist, and NOT ALL accredited Artists know how to handle them!)

Dear Friends, the PROPER, Museum Grade and indisputable Ming Guo Lü Ni MUST be Cobalt mixed with authentic, AND low sieve count: BEN SHAN LÜ Ni.

The ZiSha fraternity accepts safely only Cobalt Oxide 氧化钴 mixed with ZiSha to make Ming Guo Lü Ni  ; and Manganese Oxide 氧化锰 mixed with ZiSha to make Hei Ni (黑泥).  No other minerals are accepted.

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Below are several works for your information.  Talk to us Cao Family at realzisha@gmail.com, discuss about acquiring your preferred and bespoke work made of 100% Pure Ben Shan Lü Ni and/or Min Guo Lü Ni work made of 100% Pure Ben Shan Lü Ni + top grade Cobalt, with us today.