Heritage Ming-Qing designs recreated & reborn, by Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng 杨全胜 and Assoc Master Du Cheng Yao 堵程尧。

ZiSha is thought to have originated from the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago during the Ming Dynasty.  Gong Chun pot 供春壶, is the first pot made of ZiSha as uncovered and depicted in ancient writing.

Dearest Friends, we have very good news for you.  Regular patrons and friends know that, besides us running almost like a social enterprise availing authentic Fully-Handmade works at the best prices right from >$170, we have the professionalism and true top connections to bring you friends, all of you, from any part of the world, with true provenance and access: the Top Museum Standards from the top Grand Masters' (past and current) and Masters' works, e.g. the late Gu Jing Zhou 顾景舟, Wang Yin Xian 汪寅仙, Jiang Rong 蒋蓉 works, the current Grand Masters Cao Ya Lin 曹亚麟, Chen Guo Liang 陈国良, Xu Da Ming 徐达明, Shao Shun Sheng 邵顺生 works., We also avail top quality works from the committed, honest Masters and Craftsmen.

Below: Grand Master Wang Yin Xian's Two Ornate works 松桩 Song Zhuang and 南瓜 Nan Gua, for one of our patrons.

Below: Grand Master Chen Guo Liang's Ornate work 天池 Tian Chi for one of our patrons.

Below: Grand Master Xu Da Ming's Handle Work 汉韵 Han Yun, for our patron.

Below: Senior Consummate Master Lu Xue Feng with Clay Specialist Li Hong Yuan.

We have a Superb List of Artists whom international patrons commission to make pots for them.  1. Grand Master Shao is the No.1 in Polygonal pots: his Number One disciple and spiritual successor: 2. Senior Master Lu Xue Feng specialises in the Polygonal and Ornate class.  3. Self-made, crazy and fastest rising, Senior Master Yuan Hui specialises in the Polygonal class.  4. Senior Master Cao Lan Fang from the Cao Family specialises in the Austere and Polygonal class.  5. Assoc Master Zhang Xue Lei specialises in the Ornate class, he is not just a prodigy, he is Tops.  6. Assoc Master Zhang Ke specialises in the the Austere class, with excruciatingly fine workmanship (International patrons holding his pots in their hands, know).  7. We also have Premier Master Cao An Xiang whom organizations commission, to craft the world's top ZiSha receptacles for temples.

Below: Master Premier Cao An Xiang presenting his works to a Tibetan and a Chinese temple.

       Dearest Friends, we never rest on our laurels, we always push ahead.  In these difficult times when our true Fully-Handmade ZiSha fraternity is facing an extremely steep 89deg slope in front of us, as the proliferate and ubiquitous JJM non-ZiSha pots flood the market (JJM pots from $80 to even $10,000), and getting to being accepted as “ZiSha” pots by the innocent buying public,

we have to march on on two fronts.

We are pushing ahead.

~~  On the one hand all of us Craftsmen and Artists are coping and fighting a colossal undertaking.  We need to uphold Fully-Handmade ZiSha works by consistently bringing top tier works at all price zones, $170, $500, $800, $1500, $3000 and so on.  They earn very little, they don't profiteer.  They work hard.  Craftsman Chen Fa Chu, et al, are fighting the $170 zone up.  He is a hero, very committed, with blinders on, ignoring the noise from his peers who had already gone over to the JJM factories.

Below: Hardworking, FOCUSSED Craftsman Chen Fa Chu.  Dedicated, fighting the most important ground, crafting and availing top quality Fully-Handmade ZiSha works at the most affordable prices to help all of us in our tea journey.

~~  Devoted Craftslady Wang Shu Yun with her multitude of Segmental-Corollary works sold to our patrons.

~~ On the other hand, we are putting our efforts PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES of ZiSha appreciation. Plus-sing the Plus, so to speak.

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Dearest Friends, a great dimension is being introduced, at great cost to our two New Artists, who had put in a lot of learning in the past preceding years.

We proudly announce the Arrival of Associate Master  DU CHENG YAO 堵程尧 and Associate Master YANG QUAN SHENG 杨全胜.  We hereby launch the extreme fruits of their labour, to all of you.

We grandly present to you not one, but two of these Artists who are dedicated to the cause.  And boy do they not just help all ZiSha aficionados ground their collections to solid authentic works, they bring class, HISTORY, vintage, AND OUTSTANDING ZiSha CLAY to all our tea tables. 

This is their common and exciting mission.  They have been putting a lot of THOUGHT and RESOLVE, PRACTICE and HARD WORK, so as to bring you all together on this exciting journey together.  Your tea tables will be adorned and equipped with fantastic ZiSha Works that bring much Variety, History, AUTHENTICITY to history, Olde Worlde Charm and Aura.  Every piece extremely conversational.

Please welcome Assoc Master Du Cheng Yao, and Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng.

Presenting our Associate Master Du Cheng Yao 堵程尧:

Here is our Associate Master Yang Quan Sheng 杨全胜:

Together they will be bringing many outstanding facets and directions to your ZiSha pot collection journey!!!  Here are all the reasons why we are excited.

A.  Du and Yang have taken up the mantle, and responsibility of re-learning, pioneering, experimentation, practice, practice and practice, mastering and crafting ZiSha works with designs dating back to the actual Ming~Qing Dynasty periods, e.g.  Da Bin Gan Lan, Ming Shi Long Dan, Gu Wei Jun De, Ming Shi Yin Fang.  One look at each of them, and you realise that, each of these pots bring back the Olde Worlde feel and aura, strongly.  Their designs hark back to the designs of the times of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (~1500 surfacing of Gong Chun pot, to 1900) when ZiSha Artistic Flair run brilliantly.

It is true that the great models Shi Piao, Duo Zhi and Fang Gu also came from these chronological periods, but there is a slight and important difference.

We highly respect and place Shi Piao, Duo Zhi, Fang Gu and many classic shapes on a PEDESTAL.  They are the top standards  (The most expensive ZiSha pots remain to be: the Jing Zhou Shi Piao and the Da Heng Duo Zhi).

All these shapes have been commonly and CONSISTENTLY made, since the Ming~Qing period.  They are great designs, no doubt about it, and that is why these Shi Piao, Fang Gu, etc are constantly being crafted, and by all Fully-Handmaking Artisans and Artists.

==>  The RESULT being:

Craftsmen always DO have the ACTUAL, PHYSICAL pots/specimens to hold, examine and take reference from.

But what Du and Yang bring to us, are Ming and Qing designs that are seldom made.  They are, so to speak, lost designs.  A lost part of the ZiSha catalogue.  Often browsed through in the annals, seen in MUSEUMS, but never made again.

This, is, an extremely difficult mission to accomplish.

EACH pot.  Each of these designs.

WE NEED TO BRING THEM BACK.  WE NEED TO RE-CRAFT THRM UP.  WE NEED TO GIVE LIFE BACK TO THESE ANCIENT EXQUISITE PIECES.

However, there are those rarer designs, designs that are seldom made. And because they are seldom made, Craftsmen of yore till now, only have drawn pictures to go with.  Many of such pots were unearthed during archaeological studies in later years, or found laid underground, respectfully together with the people of those dynasties (officials, poets, painters, commoners and craftsmen themselves).  Photos are taken of these specimens, and these are 2-DIMENSIONAL.

ZiSha pots DON’T come easy.  This is hence, yet another aspect not understood by many: 

It is very difficult for an Artist or Craftsman to JUST look at the photos of a pot, and then: extrapolate and translate them into a 3-Dimensional Structure.  It is much, much, much easier if they have the actual specimen on their hands, to take reference from, for example, a De Zhong, a Fang Gu.

Therefore, if you were to pass the photos of such ancient Ming and Qing designs, to the Artists/Craftsmen, they will find it very difficult to make a pot as such.

Each of these seldom-made designs, needs a lot of time to conjure up.  Each of them involves a lot of time taken to experiment with clay slabs, cuttings, formations.  Each requires Du and Yang to wittily reverse engineer, and then, plan and execute the crafting up. 

These two Artists have mastered this type of clays made with Gu Fa Lian Ni, 

As if all these herculean efforts and thoughts isn’t enough, they told us that they want to stay true to the True Olde Worlde, Vintage feel from the Ming and Qing era: they work with an exemplary clay specialist, who specialises in using the atavistic, bygone way of processing ZiSha clay.  After the steps involved in processing the ore to clay, this clay specialist manually pounds them (instead of using the current fraternity’s vacuum-former) in order to drive out the air before processing them into the standard 15kg bricks of clay.  They are trying to reenact what is being done 400-200 years ago.  No usage of vacuum former.  Pounding purely manually many, many times with much manual labour work, vintage clay bricks are finally formed.  They exhibit much more irregularities.

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/39987199

Below is a Da Bin Quan Niu pot made in the Qing Dynasty, NOTICE THE EXACT SAME CLAY COLORATION and TEXTURE as our Da Bin Gan Lan, Ming Shi Long Dan made by Assoc Master Du Cheng Yao!

Notice below that this Ming Yuan Shu Yao has the same COLORATION and TEXTURE as the Ming Yuan Shu Yao made by Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng!

Associate Masters Du Cheng Yao and Yang Quan Sheng's gruelling, formidable efforts take us straight back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.  Great works, Exemplary Designs from the past, beautiful aesthetics from the past great men, arduous efforts, superb clay, and at great prices! 

We mean it:

Assoc Master Yang Quan Sheng's Ming Yuan Yin Fang 鸣远印方 has recently been bought by Collectors at an Auction at 20,700rmb ~ USD2,970, and the Pair of Ming Yuan Yin Fang 鸣远印方 and Ming Yuan Shu Yao 鸣远束腰 32,200rmb ~ USD4,600!

HERE YOU GET THE CHANCE AND PLATFORM TO PROCURE THEM AT ONE-THIRD THE PRICE!  Here you get the chance to buy them at $931 and $866 each!!!  We work very hard with the Artists!

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Admire the subtle lines and surfacing which had taken Du and Yang great pains to finish them.  Austere ones take four days.  Polygonal ones take one week to ten days.  And we have not taken into account the kiln, firing success rate of less than 70%.  We hope kindly you support Du and Yang and acknowledge their works by bringing them home.

Older Grand Masters and experienced ZiSha aficionados will know this type of Zi Sha clay processing, staying true to the most analogue way of processing Ore to Clay, and it has a peculiar feel to it.  We enjoy these natural irregularities and feel from the fully analog manual steps taken.  DESIGN-wise and MATERIAL-wise, these works TRULY hark back a few hundreds of years ago.

Steep tea in them and enjoy the aura.

Masters Du Cheng Yao and Yang Quan Sheng have taken the first step.  Many arduous first steps.  Now let us savour them as they present the hardworked pieces regularly (two to three pieces a month) for us.

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For each of their works procured, enjoy Video Calls with Master Du / Master Yang after receipt of the work in your home.  Paper certificates accompanied as well.  Thank you Friends.