(Red Jiang Po Ni is not just rarer than yellow Jiang Po Ni, it is also rarer than Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni and Zhao Zhuang Zhu Ni.)
Ming Lu 明炉 is the Austere shape and model which all ZiSha collectors love for its extreme practicality!
Ming Lu 1)exudes the Aura of Chinese Orientalism, 2)has a wide opening for extreme EASE of introducing tea leaves and washing after steeping, 3)has a sharp-ish spout for decisive cutting of flow, and 4)has a slightly raised lid that stores a column of air above the tea water level when the lid is closed, so that during the initial first moment of pour with that few degrees of tilt, tea water flows out decisively and easily right from the start. 5) It also has a raised circular base with the protruding circular foot so as to enable the pot seem larger than its volume suggests, giving a bigger presence on your 禅意十足 tea table.
Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi being a relative of Chen Fa Chu, and here she takes over from Chen Fa Chu who had previously crafted his Ming Lu works in Zi Ni (Di Cao Qing and Lao Zi Ni). Here Gui Zhi conjures and crafts up the Ming Lu from Hong Jiang Po Ni! Chen Gui Zhi is a great Craftsman and had already joined our family of devoted Craftsmen, having been invited by Zhang Huan, Chen Fa Chu and Gu Xiao Ming to join us since early 2024, working hard to serve you friends with great Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art! We are honoured to have her with us!
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Appreciate Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi’s DILIGENCE. Being of Hong Jiang Po Ni with a high percentage of Hong Ni inherent within the unadulterated Jiang Po Ni ore, it has a significant amount of shrinkage during firing, and hence even higher degrees of failure rates. Chen Gui Zhi diligently crafted this Jun De meticulously. Note the Oriental stylish, distinguished spout, the neat Jie Gai lid-to-body interface and the svelte and poised silhouette of the body.
Craftsman Chen also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes for a solid and fast pour of tea out, working with the largish diameter spout; and with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom fast while allowing tea to flow out from the upper holes.
Excellent form. Experience only gained through painstaking efforts through the years.
Skilful Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi, invited by our stalwarts Craftsmen Zhang Huan and Chen Fa Chu! She has officially us all at RealZiSha from June 2024! Our happy and hardworking family is united for you friends. Thank you dearest Friends in Tea, for your grandest support to these honest and dedicated Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft.
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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 true ZiSha Patina feels and looks like, the Zenith Tea Taste that only Pure and Good Quality ZiSha can give you, and equally important: the Aura exuding from a Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work which others simply can't bring forth, all from the hands of Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi's skills. You will know everything then.
Chen Gui Zhi is grateful to you for your loving support of her work.
Zhang Huan and Chen Fa Chu are very happy for Chen Gui Zhi to be with us trudging hard on this path, this committed journey together.
With you friends, we are altogether fending our common tea culture. Thank you!
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Explained, https://www.realzisha.com/blogs/news/actual-zisha-landscape-at-yixing , the Craftsman by selling his hard-worked ZiSha craft at $190-$240, $45-$65 goes to the cost of the craft, inclusive of the fees for the firing for the kiln operator (three times per pot), the packaging boxes, and between $32 to $52 for the clay (Zi Ni Di Cao Qing, Duan Ni and upwards) used per pot. Craftsman takes 3 days (fastest 2.5days) to craft a pot. Out of 12 pots he makes a month of 30days, 9 pots will survive the kiln firing successfully. Out of 9 pots, a Craftsman on average sells 7 pots per month. For ZiSha models/designs that are very challenging and more complicated to craft, time taken will be longer, and the failure rate will be higher as well. Zhu Ni pots have higher failure rates than Zi Ni and Duan Ni pots too. Our Craftsmen are crazily committed to the cause of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and their strictness with their craft and dedication earn our respect. We give a big Thank You all of these Craftsmen, for they are saving what is our common precious tea culture: Tea + Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft.
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Tremendous labor of love by our trusted and committed collaborative Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi. It is a team effort and we thank you dearest Friends for your grandest support to the honest and the dedicated Craftsmen here left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art.
The lines and detailing speak of Craftsman Chen Gui Zhi's EXTREME CARE AND TIME taken to craft each part, each pot. Hold one, hold up one, swing the work around. Carefully examine his Fully-Handmade work. Look at it from afar, from near, and it will grow on you, with 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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(Dear Friends, during the photo-taking process, five to six separate spotlights above and around, are used. Looking at the photos, the collar-rim of the lid-body interface thus shows the various spotlights' reflection. You will therefore see 2 to 3 scattered brighter spots around the collar-rim. Some friends had asked before, "is the rim-collar having any irregularity in circularity?". Thus, rest assured. Do not misconstrue the two to three brighter spots around the lid-body rim collar to mean any irregularity in circularity of the rim-collar.
Yes, the rim-collars of all these ZiSha works crafted by our Craftsmen ARE REGULAR in CIRCULARITY :-D, and you can rest assured. Thank you Friends.)
