Pear-shaped pot

Look, then compare

At card size, the useful clues are the low, full belly and narrowing upper body. In the larger view, inspect the transition from shoulder to mouth and lid. Flagstaff House C81.497 is explicitly catalogued as a squat pear-shaped pot: it is a counterexample to the idea that every pear pot must be tall. Its curved spout and distinct neck also warn against treating one nozzle or lid profile as compulsory.

The catalogue gives C81.497 a height of 6 cm and width of 7.7 cm. It records an inscription dated 1724; that inscription is evidence on this object, not a birth date for the form. Its dimensions do not measure the drawing or establish a brewing capacity.

The Art of the Yixing Potter: The K.S. Lo Collection (1990), no. 29, p. 146 / PDF 150, C81.497.

Form#

The numbered parts describe the illustrated variant. Compare the examples above before treating any one detail as a rule for the whole family.

Knob

1small round bead or flattened button knob (圆珠钮 / 扁珠钮) pierced with a central vent hole

Lid

2high domed cap lid (高截盖 / 盎盖) or flanged lid (压盖) completing the upper taper of the pear

Spout

3three-bend curved spout (三弯流) or short straight conical spout (直流) rising from the lower belly

Handle

4slender oval ear loop handle (纤细圈把)

Body

5A full, rounded lower body narrows towards the mouth.

Base

6narrow ring foot (圈足), often incised with a poetic couplet and a mark such as 孟臣

¹³⁴ Numbers mark the parts described under Form.

Examples in the catalogues

The Chinese catalogue calls both a polished pear-shaped pot (C81.497) and a small round pot (C81.361) Mengchen pots. Their marks differ. The first has separate seals read as 惠, 孟臣 and 元茂, and a dated inscription read as 1724. The second has the incised 逸公監製. A word in a catalogue title can describe a type, while a transcription records characters on one object.

The Art of the Yixing Potter (1990) · no. 29–30 · p. 146

Working volume#

Use the volume to the intended fill level, rather than the exterior dimensions or shape name. Leave room for the leaves and lid, and choose cups or a serving pitcher that can receive a complete infusion. Two pots of the same named form may have very different working capacities.

Variants and sub-types#

History#

1. Yuan to MingDerived from Yuan and early-Ming pear-shaped porcelain ewers (梨式执壶), adapted into small unglazed Yixing zhuni teapots by late-Ming and early-Qing makers associated with Hui Mengchen (惠孟臣).⁴
2. Qing, Kangxi to QianlongThe catalogue transcribes the date on C81.497 (no. 29) as the second year of Yongzheng, 1724.³ Three further pear-shaped pots are reported from Qing tombs in Zhangpu, Fujian (Jingxi Zhuni, plates 14, 15 and 17).⁴
3. 1752 (Nanking Cargo)Export pear-shaped pots recovered from the Dutch East Indiaman Geldermalsen (sunk January 1752), including the example with the seal mark 玉香齋 in the Flagstaff House collection (C1986.0054; Jingxi Zhuni Plate 9, H 6.7 × W 9.5 cm).¹⁴
4. 1822 (Tek Sing cargo)Pear-shaped Yixing pots recovered from the junk Tek Sing (泰興號, sunk 1822), including examples marked 直侯 (Jingxi Zhuni Plate 35, H 7.0 × W 10.3 cm) and 荊溪惠孟臣製 in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (H 10.5 × W 12.7 cm).⁴
5. presentListed among the common Fengxi hand-thrown shapes.²

Attributions are shown as the source states them.

In other traditions#

• Adopted and produced in Taiwan 臺Taiwan. Used alongside the shuiping in Taiwanese gongfu tea and locally produced in slip-cast and hand-finished red clay (朱泥) by Yingge workshops during the 1970s–1980s tea-art boom.

Related#