Vermilion clay
Look at the red surface before deciding what to call the clay. The lidless Shuijiaoshe pot in Jingxi Zhuni, catalogue no. 8, shows a smooth red wall with lighter marks and a brighter reflection on its shoulder. The catalogue identifies it as zhuni; those visible features alone cannot do so.
On this page
How the surface is made
A smooth surface is also the result of making. The 1994 technique manual describes mingzhen, a thin horn tool used to finish the body, spout and handle. This explains a way of smoothing Yixing clay; it does not establish which tool finished the excavated pot. The museum places zhuni within red clays, whose behaviour varies.
What the measurements establish
Yingge’s 2018 account calls about 25% a firing-shrinkage figure for zhuni. It gives no identified test body, starting length, measuring method or uncertainty. We retain the statement as that author’s report, not as a specification for a pot or a universal upper limit. Drying loss and firing loss require separate starting dimensions; their percentages cannot simply be added.
What to ask next
Describe the colour, sheen and visible grains separately. Then ask for the clay supplier or batch record, preparation and firing record, and any surface treatment. Composition needs a named, tested sample; a photograph cannot supply it.
Standards#
| Standard | Clause | What it covers | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB/T 10816-2024 紫砂陶器 | record | Recommended national standard for zisha ware, issued 2024-12-31, in force 2025-07-01, replacing GB/T 10816-2008. | 4 |
| GB/T 10816-2024 紫砂陶器 | 1 (scope); foreword | Scope speaks of a fine-textured, iron-rich special clay and covers classification, technical requirements, inspection and labelling of products. The foreword says the 2008 lead and cadmium release requirements were removed from this edition. Read through a commercial English rendering of the front matter only; clauses 5 onward were not seen. | 5 |
In other traditions#
- Written with the same characters as (from that entry) Tokoname ware Japan. Tokoname 朱泥 (shudei) is written with the same characters as Yixing zhuni. The sources read call Tokoname shudei an iron-rich local clay; none read here says it is the same material.
Comparing photographed surfaces
Table 1 places fifteen vessel photographs side by side. The colours visible in these reproductions can describe their appearance on the page. Identifying the clay body requires separate evidence about the material.
The book classifies a small pot excavated from a Qing burial at Shuijiaoshe in Tainan as zhuni. Its lid is missing. The catalogue gives a surviving height of 4.6 cm and a mouth diameter of 4 cm. Both the book and the Yingge museum publication read the incised base as 溪光山色共 逸公. Their agreement establishes a documented reading; the potter’s identity remains open.No. 8 · p. 48 · PDF 50Fig. 6A–B · p. 5 · PDF 7
The monograph describes a celadon tea tray found with the pot. Yingge’s caption calls the associated vessel a water bowl (水盂). Its function is reported differently in the two publications.No. 8 · p. 48 · PDF 50Fig. 6A–B · p. 5 · PDF 7
Sources#
- 陶博館季刊 2018/1–3月：宜興紫砂（紫砂泥特色） ↗
- 紫砂泥料之什么是红泥 ↗
- 陶器烧制技艺 — 宜兴紫砂陶制作技艺, 国家级非遗 351 / Ⅷ-1 (2006) ↗
- GB/T 10816-2024 紫砂陶器 (Zisha ware), standard record ↗
- GB/T 10816-2024 English (scope and changes) ↗
- 黃健亮、黃怡嘉《荊溪朱泥：明清宜興朱泥壺研究》 / Jingxi Zhuni: The Study of Yixing Zhuni Teapots During the Ming and Qing Dynasties
- 陶博館季刊 · 圖六 A、B
- 王建中、范建军、唐伯年：《紫砂壶制作技法》。北京工艺美术出版社，1994。15–18 · PDF 23–26。
Status and editorial notes draft
Sources are listed below. Their presence does not certify every claim; source-specific interpretations and unresolved questions are identified in the text. This page has not received independent expert approval.
Exact supporting passages for the quantitative material claims and historical attributions still require checking against the cited publications.