Pan Hu 番壶, 193.8ml, Da Shui Tan Zi Ni 大水潭紫泥, by our Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢, with Plum Blossoms and Calligraphy Engraving by Craftsman Peng Peng 芃芃。
Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢, 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 consistently, and he also works closely with Yi Xiao Ran (featured in our home page video) and also Chen Fa Chu (together both being the longest serving Craftsmen with us). 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.
Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢 delights us with this Pan Hu which is extremely satisfying to look at for hours on end. Pan Hu 番壶, is one of the best shapes passed down through the generations, and a shape that has several iterations and this is one of them that is chosen by Senior Master Cao Lan Fang and Assoc Master Zhang Ke for him. We are elated that Zhang Huan responded superbly, crafting up this cohesive Pan Hu with Zhang Li 张力。 He also does away with the Tian Ya Di Gai 天压地盖 ("Heaven presses on Earth" - Lid) and did the more difficult Jie Gai 截盖 interface. We also used our Cao Family's Da Shui Tan Zi Ni 大水潭紫泥 for this project, to imbue this Austere cohesive work with Engraving, with the air of understatement and long-lasting handsomeness. 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. For this project, we chose Craftsman Peng Peng to pair with him.
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Da Shui Tan Zi Ni, is the clay that is mined from the same Quarry site as the (mythical) Tian Qing Ni. The Quarry Pit is named Da Shui Tan Kuang Qu 大水潭矿区。
Our Da Shui Tan Zi Ni, not just being authentic, is sold to true connoisseurs at this low price. Dear Friends, this is superb quality Da Shui Tan Zi Ni. Get one.
Its colour is the same as the said Tian Qing Ni. In fact, there is a joke from Master Yu Chun Lei, Craftsman Zhang Huan and Craftsman Chen Fa Chu, as they make their pots from the same Da Shui Tan Zi Ni supplied from our Cao Family: that patrons can possibly buy Craftsman Chen Fa Chu Da Shui Tan Zi Ni pots at 1500rmb and sell it off at 10,000-20,000rmb as "Tian Qing Ni"!
Master Yu enjoys working with this Da Shui Tan Zi Ni. He also wishes to educate all friends to savour Da Shui Tan Zi Ni, for its beauty is beguiling, a mixture of purplish, red, brown and grayish Zi Ni components.
REST ASSURED. No way our trusty Yu Chun Lei and Chen Fa Chu, whom all our Artists have their backs, are going to sell their Da Shui Tan Zi Ni craft works at any inflated, exorbitant and dishonest prices. We abide by the highest code of honesty in serving our patrons and Museums local and worldwide.
Other retailers are blatantly and seriously selling their Da Shui Tan pots, but labelling them as "Tian Qing Ni" pots and selling at $4,000, $7,000, $10,000! Regrettably so and take heed to avoid.
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Get an authentic Da Shui Tan Zi Ni pot from our honest Craftsmen and Artists and be the Wise, Aware and the Learned one.
Because, we in our fraternity do know, that Da Shui Tan Zi Ni appear the same as the mythical Tian Qing Ni pot. Both embody the highly similar grayish-purplish hue.
Do not ever get fleeced by others selling "Tian Qing Ni" works. Most are even Jigger-machined pots not made from ZiSha at all, and those that are made of ZiSha are actually made from Da Shui Tan Zi Ni instead.
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Tian Qing Ni.
One of the biggest rabbit holes for consumers into ZiSha Art and Craft.
Fact is: There is NO certification for Tian Qing Ni.
None of our Grand Masters is ever going to certify any pot work as Tian Qing Ni. Reputation that they cannot afford to lose.
They know that Tian Qing Ni exists solely as our imagination, and is a rabbit hole that they advise everybody not to fall for.
They will NEVER advise you nor agree with you to chase down a "Tian Qing Ni Ore and/or pot".
They with all the learning behind them, will tell you that, Tian Qing Ni, is a type of ZiSha ore,
1. described only in words by a literati in the Qing Dynasty,
The person is called Zhou Gao Qi 周高起, the book he wrote is Yang Xian Ming Hu Xi 阳羡茗壶系。
2. however there is ZERO Ore Specimen being handed down by him to anybody else,
3. there is also NOT one single pot handed down by him to anybody else,
4. Not even Huang Long Yuan 黄龙源 company dare to say they have this mythical Tian Qing Ni.
Therefore, it remains the mythical ore and finished pot, which depending on one's own interpretation of the words written by Zhou Gao Qi, can be "labelled as Tian Qing Ni."
See the danger here? "depending on one's own interpretation of the words of Zhou Gao Qi." There is no physical specimen ever handed down by him. No ore nor pot.
Tian Qing Ni is still described in a few publications and "reference books" written by certain authors (which many have heard of or bought such publications), but the truth remains that is Tian Qing Ni is as per points Number 1 to 4 above.
Dear Friends, do also have the right understanding that:
There is NO REFERENCE BOOK EVER WRITTEN BY YIXING ZISHA ASSOCIATION. All publications and books found in the market, are written by a few authors or workers who have gathered their own specimens of ores through the years, and they wrote these books based on what their own sampling and perception is. YiXing ZiSha Association and their working Ceramic professors and Grand Masters do not reference themselves with these books.
We at RealZiSha, we do know these few authors personally, we do meet them personally regularly and have tea with them. We maintain our cordiality and courtesy with them.
But our Artists, Grand Masters, we, do maintain our stance and maintain our core principles. Many things are common sense, and should never be hyped.
Dear Friends, in YiXing, in fact, nobody in our proper fraternity talk about clays much. The unscrupulous ore sellers or pot sellers always say that, as long as a customer walk in very concerned about various types of ores and clays, these customers are "easy meat". Please do not be one of these customers.
We focus on Craftsmanship. All YiXing ZiSha (properly mined, picked against the impurities) are equally good in our eyes, hands, and the tea we steep them with.
Be a true ZiSha wise aficionado and learned person, focussing of simply two points: 1)Craftsmanship, and 2)as long as it is YiXing ZiSha, it is good ZiSha. Don't pay for hyped up clays with many advertised ore photos and fanciful names.
Enjoy affordable ZiSha works by our Craftsmen and Artists :-D !!!
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Support PROPER Da Shui Tan Zi Ni. Although they are affordable, do not ever think that Da Shui Tan Zi Ni is not precious. It is. Just that we price it with a honest conscience at affordable prices. Yes, just because they are priced affordably here, please do now see them as lesser. It is just that Craftsman Chen and us just do the proper thing. Remember, you can/are going to bring this pot to meet us anytime in YiXing and have tea with our Master Artists and Grand Masters possibly, and tell them you acquired this from Craftsman Zhang Huan, Craftsman Chen Fa Chu or Assoc Master Yu Chun Lei (who had crafted Da Shui Tan Zi Ni works for you) at the price you paid. Your Da Shui Tan Zi Ni pot here is a source of pride and joy, albeit being affordable. This Da Shui Tan Zi Ni is precious.
Kindly do because:
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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Our Senior Masters have given Craftsman Zhang Huan the full blessings with all of us. He is fully-fledged at RealZiSha. Most important, after all the hard work,
We are very happy that he is now with all of you.
Presenting Zhang Huan and his hard-worked and fine-worked Pieces for you. One by one.
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