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The Han Wa 汉瓦.
AND THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL AND TREASURED HAN WA.
We refresh ourselves with the previous explanation on all our Han Wa 's :
In YiXing, there is a saying that,
"Do not brag how good your skills are in crafting Fully-Handmade ZiSha pots,
FIRST SHOW ME your Han Wa.
This saying has its strong foundations.
1.
Han Wa needs to have a gently curving side wall and if not done evenly, is very obvious to the eye.
2.
Han Wa has a largish lid spanning the large circumference. In relativity to the pot's width, the Han Wa obviously has the largest lid-width to body-width ratio! This largish lid also has its front edge VERY close to where the front spout takes shape. These present a very challenging task to the Craftsman, because:
IF not done well and tight, there will be leaking at the front lid edge when the user tilts the teapot to serve tea. The whole big circular lid has to be perfectly evenly made to secure a tight fit.
3.
Han Wa's lid, being wide and flat (not domed), still needs to account for a gently curving convex top surface, WHILE supporting the heavy lid knob that can cause the flat lid to "sink" down in the middle. A domed lid otherwise would naturally present a stronger vertical axial strength to support a heavy lid knob, but not the Han Wa.
Admire this Han Wa.
Simple, but a Top Classic.
Han Wa, is also VERY practical!
4.
It provides extreme ease of introducing tea leaves into the pot,
extreme ease of removing and flushing out tea leaves during cleaning,
extremely fast speed to drying within the pot.
Here amazingly, perfectly and astutely made by Craftsman Xu Gui Ling. Thank you for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsladies and Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
NOW WE EXPAND FURTHER!
On top of the previous 4 points,
This Han Wa is crazy:
1. The lid is EVEN WIDER AND BROADER! That means the lid is even much more prone to collapsing downwards during firing. But Xu Gui Ling succeeded with this! She needs to grasp properly the clay processing, and the moisture needed, and the firing temperatures at all 3 firings perfectly.
2. The base is completely flat! It is common knowledge that flat bases, especially if they are this wide and broad, is precarious as any mild warpage/deformation during firing will render it an obvious flawed specimen. But here, it is perfect!
3. The edge of the base, is designed and made to be of a more acute wedge. A more acute wedge means that there is less for the clay hanging by the edge, to "hang on to" its surrounding. As such, the clay at the edge often suffer popping off during firing. Here, in this superb ZiSha Work, Craftsman Xu Gui Ling, succeeded!
We salute her diligent efforts to bring this to us.
Additional point, Number 5! For such a small pot, it has 3+4+3 holes in the filter make-up, this definitely makes for much better flow during our usage during tea steeping and serving.
