Mark sources cited
壺痴 · mark readings
The mark 壺痴 appears on two teapots shaped like square seals wrapped in cloth. One has enamel decoration and the other shows the plain clay.
On this page
Start with the reading
壺痴
壺 means “pot”, and 痴 can express an intense fondness: together they suggest a devotee of pots. Compare the two Hong Kong impressions beneath the vessel photographs. The plain and enamelled surfaces make the pots look quite different, yet the same two characters recur. The cloth knot belongs to the modelled shape of the pots. [1]
A documented vessel
The catalogue photographs the impression on both pots. On the enamelled example C81.323 it also records a separate seal transcribed as An. On the plain example C81.366 it lists 壺痴 alone. [1]
A third cloth-wrapped-form pot, in Beijing, provides two specific positions. The Palace Museum catalogue records an oval 瑞祥 inside its lid and a raised 壶痴 on its base. These placements apply to the Beijing pot alone. [56]
How far the evidence goes
The Hong Kong catalogue dates its two pots to the second half of the nineteenth century. The reading follows its spelling 痴. It identifies neither an individual behind the name nor where on each pot the seal was impressed.
Sources and exact locations
- The Art of the Yixing Potter: The K.S. Lo Collection, Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990. ISBN 962-215-096-9. C81.323 · Catalogue 64 · p. 177 · PDF page 181 / C81.366 · Catalogue 65 · p. 178 · PDF page 182
- 故宫博物院编，王健华主编，《你应该知道的200件宜兴紫砂》，紫禁城出版社，2007. ISBN 978-7-80047-648-8. no. 56, p. 94, PDF 97.