《立功壶》"Li Gong (Achievement) Hu", 179.1ml, *Da Shui Tan Duan Ni *High-Fired 大水潭段泥~高温烧, Craftsman Fang Shi 方仕, Engraving of Horse and Verse by Hao Man 浩满。
《立功壶》"Li Gong (Achievement) Hu",
*Da Shui Tan Duan Ni *High-Fired 大水潭段泥～高温烧, by Craftsman Fang Shi 方仕, Engraving of Horse and Verse by Hao Man 浩满。
《立功壶》"Li Gong (Achievement) Hu"
We have a popular saying in Chinese: 马到成功! meaning as the Horse arrives, Success/Achievement/Completion arrives!
AND this IS the Year of the Horse on our Lunisolar Calendar!and we always wish these four words " 马到成功" to one another for this year!
NATURALLY, Hao Man works with Fang Shi and engraves the 马 Horse!for this beautiful Polygonal Class work (particularly of the Polygonal~Smooth-Edged theme) in a supremely matching clay directed by Yuan Hui as he picks from our Cao Family's stable of great ZiSha clays!!!
The Da Shui Tan Duan Ni 大水潭段泥!
Da Shui Tan quarry has been depleted and closed since 1970s.
We are bringing out our precious: Da Shui Tan Duan Ni 大水潭段泥 here for this ZiSha artistic production.
Craftsman Fang Shi , presents here, the《立功壶》"Li Gong (Achievement) Hu", in High-fired DA SHUI TAN DUAN NI 大水潭段泥~高温烧, with Engraving of the Gallant Horse and Verse, by Craftsman Hao Man 浩满!
Fang Shi, a superb disciple of Uncle Cao An Xiang, has joined us! Craftsman Fang Shi now joins Craftsman Gao Xiang in providing small volume: works of Polygonal class! Fang Shi, in consultation with Senior Consummate Master Yuan Hui’s artistic direction, will be giving you, dearest Friends of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art, regular healthy doses of Polygonal works for your solo to three pax steeping :-D
Here is the very lovely volumed Polygonal class work ～175ml,the LI GONG HU!
About CRAFTSMAN FANG SHI and CRAFTSMAN GAO XIANG:
Craftsman Fang Shi and Craftsman Gao Xiang, receive of course, the nod of approval by Senior Consummate Master Yuan Hui! Yuan Hui will be directing designs for these small volume Polygonal works!All of the Craftsmen now in the group too are very happy that from now on, they can all complement one another! Small (100-160ml) Polygonal works are both Fang Shi's and Gao Xiang's area of focus and forte, and this is where they shine and k love which he does best in! We really hope all of you friends and ZiSha aficionados will agree with our team here that their works are amazing in artistic direction, afforded at the most affordable price in the market, and of delicate savoir-faire and workmanship! Very happy that both Fang Shi and Gao Xiang will now be here permanently with all of you! A lot of hard work from all of us, and we will continue fighting very hard against all odds, for all of you. We love our Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and are very grateful and over the moon whenever each piece goes to your homes.
*** We handed him our Cao Family’s Da Shui Tan Duan Ni we mined from Da Shui Tan quarry/mine pit, and our uncle Zhang Yun Long HIGH-FIRES them to manifest this beautiful GRAYISH-YELLOW colour!!! Most pots are fired at between 1150 to 1190degC, in our YiXIng speak:
"一号“ means 1150degC, 二号 means 1170degC, and 三号 means 1190degC.
Beyond 1190degC is considered High-Firing, and our uncle Zhang Yun Long fires our Cao Family's Da Shui Tan Duan Ni at 1230degC, definitely High-Firing.
“会呈现浅灰, 黄褐, 黄暗青等色调。胎质细密光润，梨皮状的表面颗粒隐现，色泽效果比较丰富。”
Meaning, “it will fire to present Light Gray, Yellowish Brown, or even Yellowish-dark-Green colours. Body is finely particled and appears moist and rather smooth, yet presenting multiple small particles; a richly textured clay.”
We cheer for Craftsmen Fang Shi and Gao Xiang and thank them for their past years of dedication to ZiSha and his love of delicate Polygonal works!
An upright, regal, confident stance of this Li Gong Hu, with the beautiful sweeping Spout, very difficult to craft and fire.
The beautiful, double-bend Spout in Four-Sided configuration!
"神骏" ~ engraved by Craftsman Hao Man here in Xing Shu 行书 style.
The Magnificent Horse.
Engraved by Craftsman Hao Man, here in Xing Shu style of calligraphy, making for a very apt and stylish way to sit down and drink tea!
Dearest friends, enjoy your tea! :-D
The Lid Knob, ergonomic, easy to hold, and a miniature motif of the whole pot!
No effort spared, and watch Craftsman Fang Shi's carefully crafted four-sided handle with the NECESSARY smoothened edges to rhyme in with the overall smooth-edged Polygonal theme work!
Here in this four-sided Li Gong Hu: Polygonal, small volume, Craftsman Fang Shi spares no effort in performing the 45-degree 1mm chamfering that Senior Master Yuan Hui smilingly approves of!
45-degree 1mm-chamfering, A) At Edge of Top Opening, and B) All around the Lid:
The carefully, deftly and diligently crafted: FOUR-SIDED hand-pushed in filter in ALSO the FOUR-SIDED THEME! It sports the 3x4 = 12 filter holes for ease of outflow of tea!
Shrinkage of Fully-Handmade ZiSha works:
ZiSha Art is the most amazing carrier medium, housing various aspects of Chinese Cultural Arts!
Here in this "Li Gong Hu" by Craftsman Fang Shi, you savour this embodiment of
1. Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft 紫砂美术与工艺,
2. Painting 绘画,
3. Calligraphy,
4. Engraving。
Hold, Use and Keep relishing the delightful aspects of our Chinese Culture in your daily life, in solitude, in practice, during hospitality to family and friends alike.
Savour the journey, dearest Friends!
Use it, savour it and feel the aura of Chinese YiXing Art!
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Craftsman Fang Shi is NOW proudly one of us and he will be featuring consistently, with Gao Xiang, Zhang Huan, Zhu Shu, Yang Pin Ting, Gu Xiao Ming, Chen Fa Chu, et al. Craftsman Fang Shi's works are highly scrutinised and praised too!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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Cherish it as they do not come easy, with the firing kiln enabling only a 60-70% success rate for this detailed Polygonal + coloured Clay embellishment sculpting Art, i.e. fire 3, and two or less will be successful. This is SPECIALLY crafted for all of you friends at ~110ml to suit the gungfu solo steeping practice! Still good for steeping for two people at a sitting!
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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.
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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