YiXing Purple Sand Tea Pot 宜興紫砂茶壶 

 Wu Chimin 吴奇敏 is an esteemed teapot artist and is honored as Intangible Cultural Heritage ( ICH ) master. Her teapots are known for delicate elements and elegant shapes. 

The Yixing Purple Sand teapot is well- known for its artistic individuality, and the high quality. The purple sand is different from clay, with higher percentage of sand which provides more porous quality in order for the teapot to “breathe.” So the purple sand teapot is not glazed to retain this highly prized characteristic for tea-making. The teapot is also never washed with any detergent, just rinse with hot water after each use. The more one uses the tea pot, the better it gets. 

It is believed that craftsmanship of this particular style of tea pot making started over a thousand years ago, and perfected toward late Ming Dynasty. 

It usually takes at least three years to train a tea pot artist, then it is up to the individual’s talent as well as perseverance to create a marketable piece of tea pot. The craftsman often makes his/ her own tools. 

Video, courtesy of Ms. Ren Qian, Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University.