Shuiping

Form#

Knob

1small round bead (圆珠钮) pierced with a central vent hole

Lid

2overlapping flanged lid (压盖 / 截盖) with a tall inner skirt (长盖墙) that keeps the lid seated when pouring at a steep angle

Spout

3straight conical tube ('like a sword', 剑流 / 直筒流), joined visibly to the body, its lip level with the mouth rim and handle top (三平)

Handle

A rounded loop handle opposite the spout.

Body

5flat-round, like a lantern, with a distinct lip flange around the mouth

Base

6neat ring foot (圈足), often incised by knife or stamped with marks such as 孟臣, 逸公, 昌記, 友記, 福記 or 貢局

¹³⁴ Numbers mark the parts described under Form.

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#

Compare an overlapping lid with a lid cut flush to the shoulder, and note differences in body height and spout profile. Marks and export-market finishes belong to the history of particular examples. Cup-count labels should not be converted into a universal millilitre scale without a dated manufacturer’s specification.

History#

1. The name shuiping invites comparison of the spout, mouth and handle alignment. That visible alignment should not be treated as proof that every pot was engineered to float level. Historical explanations of the name and the physical behaviour of a particular pot require different kinds of evidence.
2. Qing, Guangxu to early RepublicThin-walled zhuni shuiping pots with tall lid skirts were produced in quantity for southern Chinese and Southeast Asian markets, including examples marked 逸公 (H 5.6 × W 9.4 cm), 昌記 and 友記 with 'three-knife' (三刀法) base inscriptions (H 5.6–6.3 × W 9.5–9.9 cm), 福記 / 安順 (H 6.0 × W 10.2 cm), and polished Siamese-market 貢局 pots (K.S. Lo Cat. 142–145, H 6.4 × W 9.7 cm).³⁴
3. 20th centuryGu Jingzhou made most of his shuiping pots early in his career.¹
4. presentListed among the common shapes of Fengxi hand-thrown zhuni pots.²

Attributions are shown as the source states them.

In other traditions#

• Adopted and produced in Taiwan 臺Taiwan. A core brewing pot of Taiwanese 老人茶 and the 1970s–1980s 茶藝 movement; the Yingge Ceramics Museum records local Yingge and Nantou workshops producing Yixing-style red-clay (朱泥) shuiping sets from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Related#