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Maker Chinasources cited

Wu Yungen

Wú Yúngēn

Look at the straight handle above a softly squared body. A pot catalogued under Wu Yungen’s name makes the contrast visible; other documented works reveal decoration, collaboration and naturalistic modelling.

On this page

A frame above the lid#

Follow the tall handle around the lid, then look at the body’s softened corners. Gu Yue’s catalogue names this 提梁弧棱壶 as a modern work by Wu Yungen in the display collection of the Yixing Zisha Craft Factory. It gives a height of 14.1 cm, without specifying the measurement’s endpoints. The photograph shows the closed pot from outside; it supplies neither a capacity nor a view beneath the lid.

The accompanying text locates 云根 inside the lid and 吴云根制 on the base. These are the author’s descriptions, not readings we can independently make from this photograph. See printed pp. 124–125 / PDF 133–134; the entry has no numbered plate or accession. [1]

Who formed, wrote and carved?#

A different pot in the 1990 Hong Kong catalogue separates these roles. Figure 17 shows a softly squared chuanlu pot with four feet, from the private collection of Lois and Robert Kreuzberger. The catalogue assigns its making to Wu Yungen and identifies it as a Mao Shunxing shop product. It records 芝萊 inside the lid and 陽羨吳製 on the base.

The essay attributes landscape decoration to Ren Ganting. For the calligraphy, it records Mao Guoqiang’s explanation that Ren wrote it and Jiang Yongxi carved it. That reported account should remain distinct from the maker attribution. The essay and English caption date the pot to the 1940s; the Chinese caption says early twentieth century. No dimensions or museum accession are supplied. See p. 54 / PDF 58 and p. 67 / PDF 71, fig. 17, 17a–c. [2]

A different kind of modelling#

The fish-dragon pot published by Yixing City Museum author Zhu Xuanlin broadens this comparison. Follow the relief on the body into the curling handle. His article identifies the museum’s pot as Wu Yungen’s work and describes a retractable dragon head in its lid. That movement is reported in the text; the single photograph does not demonstrate it.

This is a documented museum-held example, but the article supplies no accession, dimensions or mark placement. See Wuxi Wenbo, 2015 no. 4, printed pp. 73–74 / PDF 73–74, fig. 1. It supports an account of this object, not the claim that Wu invented the fish-dragon form. [3]

Keeping the biography tied to its evidence#

The inspected sources agree on 1892–1969. They also record the name Zhilai / 芝萊, but differ in how they describe that name and name his teacher. A precise apprenticeship narrative therefore remains open.

Xu Xiutang’s discussion of an overhead-handled 提梁觚菱壶 may concern the same specimen as Gu Yue’s entry; it is not automatically a second object. Crucially, the photograph beside it shows a different, loop-handled pot. See printed p. 186 / PDF 217. Comparing a caption, a photograph and a named collection is more informative than treating every occurrence of Wu’s name as equivalent evidence. [4]

Sources#

  1. 古月编著《紫砂壶图谱》，湖南美术出版社，2011，ISBN 978-7-5356-4241-7提梁弧棱壶 · printed pp. 124–125 / PDF pp. 133–134; no numbered plate
  2. The Art of the Yixing Potter: The K.S. Lo Collection, Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, 1990Printed p. 54 / PDF p. 58; printed p. 67 / PDF p. 71; fig. 17, 17a–c
  3. 朱轩林〈宜兴市博物馆藏“吴云根鱼化龙紫砂壶”〉，《无锡文博》2015年第4期Printed pp. 73–74 / PDF pp. 73–74; fig. 1
  4. 徐秀棠《中国紫砂》，上海古籍出版社，1998年第一版，2000年第二次印刷Printed p. 186 / PDF p. 217
Status and editorial notes sources cited

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.