《一叶知秋》Yi Ye Zhi Qiu ~ "The Autumn Leaf", 166.5ml, Bao Shan Duan Ni 宝山段泥, by our Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢, Bamboo and Calligraphy Engraving by Craftsman Yi Cheng 逸成 ~!Congratulations to Mr A.A.! 1006hrs 15th Oct 2025, Port Franks! Canada🇨🇦.
*** Extremely affordable and delightful small Ornate work, with both calligraphy and pictorial engravings, and THAT delightful, extinct Bao Shan Duan Ni from our precious Cao Family's stock.
Bao Shan Duan Ni is a ZiSha ore that was excavated more than two decades ago. Its historical mining site has closed more than twenty years, and now a traffic passing and a bridge is constructed over it. Its historical location is between the 2nd Mine and the 4th Mine in the past. We can also bring you to its site during our Hospitality Tour!conducted yearly.
Bao Shan Duan Ni has an amazing bronze rustic hue, with amazing depth when viewed close, and also with stupendous steeping and seasoning effects with patina formation!
"咬定青山不放松 立根原在破岩中"
竹子抓住青山一点也不放松，它的根牢牢地扎在岩石缝中。
Engraved by Craftsman Yi Cheng 逸成, here in Kai Shu 楷书 style.
Translated plainly, the words mean that the bamboos firmly anchor themselves in mountainous terrain, and its roots gripping within the crevices of the granite rocks!
Famous Poet Zheng Xie praises the Bamboos which are able to survive through the harsh winters, but the Bamboos remain firm and robust, as they have been able to anchor themselves through growing roots within the crevices of the rocks. These verses encourage us thus so, to do the same in life, mustering strength through commitment to what is righteous, even though it takes years.
This is a beautiful and famous poem written by Chen Xie, in his admiration verses o Bamboos,《竹石》。
Dearest friend, enjoy your tea :-)
《一叶知秋》Yi Ye Zhi Qiu "A single fallen leaf, Autumn has arrived"
Zhang Huan is back, and he thanks you again for your kindest wait. He is very sorry for his previous batch of twenty to thirty pots crafted between April and May and fired in late May, all suffered deformations (Zi Ye Shi Piao and De Zhong), that slowed him down. Undeterred, he had crafted recently crafted the Ban Yue 半月 and the Wu Nian Hu 无念壶 (in extremely limited quantities). Life goes on. We cheer for Zhang Huan!
Senior Masters Lu Xu Feng and Cao Lan Fang, chose for Zhang Huan this time:
This Yi Ye Zhi Qiu ~《一叶知秋》,
This model is chosen by Senior Master Cao Lan Fang for Zhang Huan to craft, and they decided it to be crafted by our Cao Family's (extinct) Bao Shan Duan Ni 宝山段泥!
Zhang Huan goes from strength to strength, and here he delights all of us with this delightful small Ornate work! Great, strong and precise jet flow during pour.
The Lid Knob, a Sculptured Motif of a Leaf, works wonderfully!!!: both, when lifting up the knob during tea steeping, and, when being used as a counterpress point when lifting up on the handle （Schema illustrated by these three sequentially taen photos of a previously launched specimen):
Lu Xue Feng and Cao Lan Fang chose it to be matched with our Cao Family's Bao Shan Duan Ni clay! It is an extinct clay!
Senior Master Lu Xue Feng and Cao Lan Fang CHOSE for the ENGRAVING to be done by one senior Craftsman with Xing Shu style calligraphy.
His artistic byname is Yi Cheng 逸成。
Yi-Lei and ian chose the verses for Engraving Craftsman Yi Cheng, while Yi Cheng exercises his own artistic direction for the delicate pictorial engraving of bamboos and the verses.
Bao Shan Duan Ni specially chosen within our team for all of you, because it best matches this application of an organic work with bamboos embellishents on handle and spout, and a piece of Bamboo Leaf as its lid knob!
We wish all our dearest friends in you, to enjoy it, use it, savour it and feel the aura of our Chinese YiXing Art.
Zhang Huan partners hence this time with Yi Cheng 逸成 closely at the last stage pampering us ultimately with this Qie Gua work of Hei Zi Ni!
Assuming the user is right-handed,
Calligraphy faces the Tea Master,
"千花百草凋零后，留向纷纷雪里看"
只待冬天千花百草凋零后，在纷飞的大雪中去看那点点葱翠。
Engraved by Craftsman Yi Cheng 逸成, here in Kai Shu 楷书 style.
Translated plainly, the words mean that, after the thousands of flowers have withered, we can notice the green of the bamboos shining through in the blizzards and snow!
This verse, although figuratively sounds simple, but it infers deep meanings for the lessons in life. Famous Poet Bai Ju Yi praises the Bamboos which are able to survive through the harsh winters, and using this to encourage us to do the same in life, mustering persistence and strength braving through harsh times, never give up, and only hence can you be able to GIVE to people. Bamboos, even before it breaks out upwards from the soil, it has already been equipped with the prerequisites for greatness: with strong foundations established within the soil, they are able to spring up to immense heights, and yet, they never aim to show off.
This is a beautiful and famous poem written by Bai Ju Yi, in his admiration verses of Ti Li Ci Yun Chuang Zhu Zhu《题李次云窗竹》。
Dearest friend, enjoy your tea :-)
Pictorial engraving of the Bamboos, faces the Guests,
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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.
Only a very well-trained, experienced and skilful Craftsman will be able to understand the curves and proportions perfectly, and here beautifully captured and crafted by Craftsman Zhang Huan.
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.
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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.
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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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.
If he works 30 days a month without a single day of rest (no family time), he will craft 10-12 pots.
If he crafts for 25 days (five days of rest a month), his output will be 8-10 pots.
The success rate for Zi Ni (e.g. Di Cao Qing, Lao Zi Ni, Da Shui Tan etc) and Duan Ni (e.g. Jiang Po Ni, Qing Hui Duan, etc) is 70% on average. Some times the whole batch of 10 may fail. We have seen our Craftsmen suffer like this very often.
The success rate for Zhu Ni (e.g. Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni) pots is 60%, or 70% with most optimism and at the very, very best. Unfortunately.
All of us at RealZiSha of course, hope for one another, professional colleagues and all, that all the pots will survive firing at the kiln successfully.
[For ZiSha models/designs that are very challenging and more complicated to craft, the time taken to craft will be longer, and the failure rate will be higher as well. Zi Sha by its virtue, have the highest shrinkage rate of all ceramic clay. Zi Ni and Duan Ni thus have that 70% success rate, while Zhu Ni has even higher shrinkage rate and thus even lower success rate (the lowest of all ceramic clay.)]
Our Craftsmen are wholeheartedly 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. Your support is critical to their livelihood and the existence of this craft for all of the tea fraternity.
Thank you Friends!
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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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