Fang Gu 仿古。
The Must-Have ZiSha model, created by the all-important master of ZiSha in its history: Shao Da Heng 邵大亨。 Shao Da Heng is our Grand Master Shao Shun Sheng's great-great-great-great-grandfather (6 Generations direct lineage).
Fang Gu is the stapl-est of the staples.
You must have one.
Here at a handy, newly minted, ~190ml volume.
BRING ONE HOME, USE IT and you will know all about Fully-Handmade ZiSha, the feel of real and quality YiXing ZiSha, the nurturing of Patina, how the true Patina feels and looks like, the Aura exuded from a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth, and, Craftsman Zhang Huan's, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢 is tasked by us to craft the 190ml Fang Gu from Di Cao Qing. This is where he excels. He delights us with his supremely COHESIVE and DELICATE, FINELY detailed masterpiece which is this Fang Gu! Note the finely worked 1.5mm thickness of the rim of the lid, and likewise the opposing rim of the opening of the body. The spout also sports the supremely natural "Javelin throw" trajectory shape. These two features/design are easily picked out and appreciated by ZiSha aficionados.
Craftsman Zhao's works are highly scrutinised by our Senior Masters, and deemed to be ready for you, delectable for your use and a long lasting permanent ZiSha work in your collection.
A true ZiSha great classic. Taking all of 3-4 days to be CAREFULLY crafted, followed by: 3 rounds of firing, spread over the subsequent two weeks. Made affordable by hardworking Zhang Huan for all of us! Cherish it as they do not come easy, with the firing kiln enabling only a 70% success rate, i.e. fire 3, and two will be successful.
SPECIALLY REQUESTED by all of you friends to be made at ~190ml to suit anything between a single to two person tea session!
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Again, another tremendous labor of love by our trusted and committed collaborative Craftsman Zhang Huan. It is a team effort and we thank you dearest Friends for your grandest support to the honest and the dedicated Craftsladies and Craftsmen here left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
Zhang Huan works with Senior Master Cao Lan Fang in her studio and all works are AMAZING high performance and high value. Take one home fast and savour his formidable, archetypically CLASSIC craft and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
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Craftsman Zhang Huan, since young, has embarked on his journey of crafting Austere ZiSha works of HIGH QUALITY. He had been noticed and hand-picked by Senior Cao Lan Fang and Senior Master Lu Xue Feng over observation of the past decade, and they have taken him in as their very hardworking disciple and CORE COLLEAGUE.
After three years of perfecting further his already polished skills, his works have consistently been given more than a nod by our Artists, be it Senior Master Lu Xue Feng, Senior Master Cao Lan Fang, Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng, Assoc Master Li Yan Ru, Assoc Master Du Cheng Yao. Craftsman Zhang is NOW proudly one of us and he will be featuring heavily and consistently. Craftsman Zhang Huan is naturally gifted, and extremely dedicated to perfecting his Art. His works have been noticed and appraised highly. The lines and detailing of his pots are unmatched for their prices. His lines and detailing speak of his EXTREME CARE AND TIME taken to craft each part, each pot. The lines and detailing speak of his fighting through his years from very challenging family conditions since young.
Hold one, hold up one, swing his work around. Carefully examine his Fully-Handmade work. Look at it from afar, from near, and it will grow on you. The whole piece grow on you because 1) he takes reference from what the Senior Masters chose for him, 2) and he amazingly crafts them up EXACTLY as to what the Senior Masters want from him: extreme fine detailing with MUCH THOUGHT on each part, with MUCH TIME spent on every part, section. Because this is what Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art should be, and HOW FULLY-HANDMADE ZISHA ART is so different from and light years ahead of the ubiquitous jigger-machined pots and half-handmade pots masquerading under the sales tagline of "fully-handmade zisha" pots. These latter JM/HHM pots are made in what we call 流水线 a.k.a. 'Factory-Line operation' whereby the main pot body after being jigger-machined or coming off from the mould, is passed to the next worker who fits on the spout, and subsequently this second worker will pass the pot on to another worker who will in turn fit on the handle. Continuing so, the pressed lid is likewise passed to another worker who fit on the lid knob. EACH WORKER has NO IDEA what the other one is doing, and they are always working on fixed time lines stated by the boss. For example, the worker being "passed the baton" a pot with the spout just fixed onto the body by his colleague, will only focus on fixing on the handle, with nil to little regard to WHETHER THE HANDLE fixed on will be cohesive with the spout. Each worker has NO idea of HOW THE FINAL POT WILL LOOK LIKE. Beyond poor craftsmanship and clay, the result of such processes are ugly pots with poor cohesiveness which experienced Artists, Craftsmen and collectors will tell from a metre away. Experienced people in us, do not need to pick up a pot to check whether it is fully-handmade or made of zisha, we can tell from a metre away just by looking at the pot.
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The keywords are: Detailing and Cohesiveness.
A GOOD Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work combines great detailing and cohesiveness.
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Also to be cherished and witnessed in this ZiSha Work, you : besides the usual important, critical and beautiful hallmarks of a Fully-Handmade ZiSha pot, this pot has the discontinuous and roughly horizontal marks evident on the inner walls, and these are called the: 泥凳纹 Ni Deng Wen, which are the marks left on the clay slab, complementary to the marks on the workbench of the Craftsman Zhang Huan; During the making of FHM ZiSha pots, the Craftsladies and Craftsmen will be using tools to cut the clay slabs, etc, and these cutting strokes will leave marks on the studio workbench. Especially the first major forceful cut across the table to delineate the clay she/he wants to utilize to form the main body of the body. Thus when the craftsman subsequently pound the clay slab on the workbench, these marks will be etched onto the clay slab. Thus you are "enjoying" the additional natural hallmarks of a Fully-Handmade pot. Even a partially handmade pot will not show these marks. And those fake, those Jigger-machined pots may show CONCENTRIC continuous circular lines, usually all parallel to one another, and extremely uniform.
Therefore, do cherish and have fun admiring the discontinuous, jagged lines on your pot's inner walls, are called, the 泥凳纹 Ni Deng Wen "Workbench Lines/Marks".
Craftsman Zhang thanks you for your kindest support of his Work and adopting his work on your tea table while you steep teas for yourself and your family and Friends! Thank you!
