Chu Piao《础瓢》, 141.6ml, Di Cao Qing Zi Ni 底槽青紫泥, by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明, Engraving of Plum Blossoms (extending over part of base) and Poem by Craftsman Ruo Xi 若兮 ~!CONGRATULATIONS TO MR Y.T.! 2256hrs 21st July 2026, Lviv! Ukraine🇺🇦!
ZiSha Art is the most amazing carrier medium, here housing Five aspects of Chinese Cultural Arts, and a beautiful look in to Chinese Painting, Poetry, Calligraphy as well! All five aspects on your hands, plus serving the best teas ever for you on your tea table! Long lasting (lasts beyond a lifetime), easy maintenance, and becomes more beautiful with use and contact, not less!
1. Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft,
2. Painting,
3. Poetry,
3. Calligraphy,
5. Engraving Art and Craft.
Yes, all these engagement with Chinese Artforms, all while going about your daily and healthy mindful sessions at ease, drinking the best tasting Teas!
《础瓢》"Chu Piao" with Qian Gai 嵌盖 interface, by Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明,
WITH Engraving savoir-faire by Craftsman Ruo Xi 若兮:
1. Poem on the right face,
2. VIVID Plum Blossoms spanning from the base and lusciously over the left face:
"不经一番寒彻骨，怎得梅花扑鼻香。"
出自唐代黄櫱禅师的《上堂开示颂》
译文如果不经历冬天那刺骨的严寒，梅花怎会有扑鼻的芳香。
注释彻骨：深透入骨，程度极深。
赏析诗人用梅花顶风冒雪开放、发出芳香，比喻经过艰苦摸索、禅机顿悟的境地，表达了诗人劝诫世人为人做事应有梅花这般坚贞高洁品性。
～ From one of the top Ch'an Masters during the Tang Dynasty, Huang Bo.
Without the prior bitter cold that chills the bones, there would not be the blossoming of the Plum Blossoms that emanates fragrance.
Master Huang Bo uses this verse to give encouragement, that without hardship, without persistence through tough times, there would be no realisation of happiness and the fruits of labour.
《础瓢》"Chu Piao" with Qian Gai interface,
WITH Engraving of VIVID Plum Blossoms and Poem by Craftsman Ruo Xi!
Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming is tasked to craft this Chu Piao in Di Cao Qing while Craftsman Zhao Huai Xu crafts his Chu Piao in Da Shui Tan Lao Zi Ni.
Both Gu Xiao Ming and Zhao Huai Xu hand over their completed Chu Piao to our trusty Ruo Xi for his excellent engraving work:
Craftsman Ruo Xi performed his VIVID Plum Blossoms Engraving,
craft the VIVID Plum Blossoms SPANNING THE BOTTOM OF THE POT TO THE LEFT FACE OF THE POT, making for a VIVID yet minimalistic feel of this amazing small volume Chu Piao suitable for one to three people's tea session together, all while admiring this base engraving as the Tea Master in you lifts this pot up, tilt and pour :-D
☆Appreciate Craftsman Gu's DILIGENCE. This Chu Piao of his, incorporates the more difficult-to-craft Qian Gai 嵌盖 lid-to-body interface construction.☆
The Qian Gai interface is the most difficult to craft interface construction, but Craftsman Gu did it because: IF DONE RIGHT + survive the firing successfully without deformation: this Qian Gai WILL give the most watertight interface (as the water has to move through TWO 90 degrees right angles before getting to leak out), and the most secure and SATISFYING, smile-inducing closure :-D
☆ ~ illustration with Craftsman Gu's series of delectable Qian Gai's 嵌盖:
2. Craftsman Gu also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes 2+3+4+3+2! for a solid and fast pour of tea out and with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom fast while allowing tea to flow out from the upper hole.
3. NA DI 捺底 ~ BASE CONSTRUCTION with gentle curve:
The base is not a simple flat surface, but Craftsman Gu chose to carefully and diligently coax a Na Di base. Excellent form. Experience only gained through painstaking efforts through the years:
Shrinkage of Fully-Handmade ZiSha,
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 of his Sui Tang Qian Gui winning work, is slightly tilted and never perpendicularly upright, in all Fully-Handmade ZiSha works, there are Bao Zi 爆子, there are Tiao Sha 跳砂, the Tie Rong Dian 铁溶点, and there is Efflorescence 封釉 and irregularities in colour and shades. We Chinese bravely and gallantly, 大调的, aim for perfection: our ZiSha Artists do not aim for wabi-sabi but exert themselves for years for exacting perfection in every gruelling step of the close to two hundred steps of ZiSha crafting. However, the clay is subject to nature's salts, concentration of heat, irregular convection current in the kiln, and that we are working with the world's most difficult ceramic material with the highest shrinkage and which can only be slab built, all of us ask for forgiveness for the slight imperfections that definitely come with every Fully-Handmade ZiSha work.
Dearest Friends, we cherish this beautiful Chu Piao in the lovely Di Cao Qing Zi Ni 底槽青紫泥!
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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 the true Patina feels and looks like, the Aura exuded from a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth, and, Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming's skills, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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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.
Do own one. They make amazing tea, with very slight muting effect on any bitterness in the tea leaves during steeping, and heightening their "refreshed"-ness and slight sweetness!
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A GOOD Fully-Handmade ZiSha Work combines great detailing and cohesiveness.
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