《矮汉瓦》"Ai Han Wa ~ Short Han Wa", 118.5ml, Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni 大水潭老紫泥, by our Craftsman Craftsman Zhao Huai Xu 赵怀须 ~!CONGRATULATIONS TO MS J.C.! 0405hrs 245th June 2026, WIlmington! DE!

Craftsmen and Artists, also say: "a ZiSha pot will behave like a jelly, wobbly like a jelly, once inside the kiln.  What comes out of it, we shall see, and we shall only pray."

The Han Wa 汉瓦。
Admire Craftsman Zhao Huai Xu SPECIALLY created this small volume, ~110ml, GONG-FU purposed Han Wa for all of you friends.

Sympathetic Fact:  Craftsman Zhao succeeds usually with only one out of every five made.  We salute his huge efforts to bring this to us.  Reasons are exposed as we unravel and understand the intricacy of this design.
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-curved side wall and if not done evenly, is very obvious to the eye.  This is also "necessary" in our Chinese Arts, because we believe "there should be a curve to every line, and there is line to every curve".
2a.  Han Wa 汉瓦, and ESPECIALLY AI HAN WA 矮汉瓦 矮 (meaning short) 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!
2b.  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, and hot convection currents within the kiln suddenly become irregular, the lid will not shrink uniformly in X-Y-Z axes, and there will be leaking at the front lid edge when the user tilts the teapot to serve tea, e.g the lid is "warped" even slightly.  We have to be very sympathetic to Fully-Handmaking ZiSha Craftsmen and Artists.
The whole big circular lid has to be perfectly made and the pot must endure and survive the harsh firing, all three times, in order to have a uniform shape AND a secure fit.
This is the reason why we Craftsmen and Artists, say, there is never a perfect pot, not even Grand Master Shao's Award Winning pots at the 2020 and 2021 Panama Expositions: the Top Handle is tiled, there are Bao Zi 爆子, there are Tiao Sha 跳砂, there are Efflorescence 封釉 and irregularities in colour and shades.
Reciting our Craftsmen and Artists, who say: "a ZiSha pot will behave like a jelly, wobbly like a jelly, once inside the kiln.  What comes out of it, we shall see, and we shall only pray."
3.  Ai Han Wa's《矮汉瓦》lid, being wide and flat (not domed), WHILE supporting a rather relatively heavy lid knob with significant mass, still needs to maintain its slightly gently-curved and convex top surface.  Ai Han Wa, compared to the standard Han Wa, is much wider and that means the lid is even much more prone to collapsing downwards during firing.   This always presents a challenge, because  this knob can cause the flat lid (which becomes soft during firing) to "sink" down in the middle.  An otherwise dome-shaped lid would naturally present a better vertical axial strength to support a heavy lid knob, but not the Han Wa and any pot design with a flat-shaped lid.
With all the above challenges Craftsman Zhao succeeded with this!  He needs to grasp properly the clay processing, and the moisture needed, the pot needs to go through all THREE firings perfectly.  It took a lot of trial and errors.  Craftsman Zhao is determine of course and he succeeded eventually!  Much oomph when he sees his Han Wa come off the kiln after the three firings, eventually SUCCESSFULLY!
Craftsman Zhao delights us this time, crafting this superb Han Wa, with:
The Sumptuous, DA SHUI TAN LAO ZI NI 大水潭老紫泥。






Han Wa, is 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 of drying after rinsing and standing the pot.
5.  THIS IS THE LATEST IMPROVED HAN WA WITH  1+2+3+2+1 = EIGHT exit filter holes!despite its relatively small size.  Han Wa also facilitates: during tilting and pouring tea out: allows and draws in more tea and presents a higher hydrostatic pressure that results in a strong jet of tea during serving!!!  Coupled with the wide aperture spout>>>  the jet is strong and fast!

Da Shui Tan Zi Ni: Its colour is the same as the said Tian Qing Ni.  In fact, there is a candid comment from Master Yu Chun Lei 俞春雷, Craftsman Zhang Huan 张欢 and Craftsman Chen Fa Chu 陈法初, as they craft their pots from the same Da Shui Tan Zi Ni supplied from our Cao Family:
"that patrons can possibly buy Craftsman Chen Fa Chu's Da Shui Tan Zi Ni pots at 1500rmb and sell it off at 10,000-20,000rmb as "Tian Qing Ni"!"

Craftsman Zhao, being handled the Da Shui Tan stock, enjoys working with this Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni.  He also wishes to educate all friends to savour Da Shui Tan Zi Ni and Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni, for their beauty is beguiling, a mixture of purplish, red, brown and grayish Zi Ni components. 

REST ASSURED.  No way our trusty Zhao Huai Xu, Gu Xiao Ming, Chen Fa Chu and Assoc Master Yu Chun Lei, are going to sell their Da Shui Tan Zi Ni and Lao Zi Ni works at any inflated, exorbitant and dishonest prices.  Besides honesty, we abide by lowering our prices so much almost to threaten the very basic threshold of our own livelihood, because this is a mission, and not a business.  Humility and Professionalism: 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.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mythical "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 postulation, 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, no clay 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.  The two top ones are by Li Hong Yuan, the docent of the YiXing ZiSha Clay Museum, and Mr Zhu Ze Wei.   All ZiSha Ore and Clay publications and books found in the market, are written by 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, but they most highly respect Mr Li Hong Yuan, and placed him as the docent and chief curator of our YiXing ZiSha Clay Museum.
We at RealZiSha, we do know these authors personally, we do meet them personally regularly and have tea with them.  We maintain our cordiality and courtesy with them.
We, our Artists, Grand Masters and Master Artists, Craftsmen, do maintain our stance and maintain our core principles.  Many things are common sense, and should never be hyped.
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 !!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support PROPER Da Shui Tan Zi Ni.  Although they are made affordable by us, do not ever think that Da Shui Tan Zi Ni is not precious.  IT IS rare and precious!   We price it with a honest conscience at affordable prices.
Yes, just because they are priced affordably here, please do not 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 Zhao Huai Xu, Gu Xiao Ming, 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 and Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni pot here is a source of pride and joy, albeit being affordable.   This Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni is highly treasured.