Jianshui purple pottery
Unglazed, polished pottery from Wanyao village in Jianshui county, southern Yunnan. The heritage record dates purple-clay production there to the Daoguang reign of the Qing, with older pottery shown by a Yuan dragon kiln.
On this page
Forms, use and context#
Decoration is carved into the damp body and filled with clay of another colour, and fired pieces are polished instead of glazed. Listed nationally in 2008.
Body#
Local clay (see clay jianshui-zitao).
Methods#
- Process Clay preparation, hand throwing, decoration on the wet body, carving and clay inlay, high firing, and polishing without glaze (制泥、手工拉坯、湿坯装饰、雕刻填泥、高温烧制、无釉磨光).1
Typical objects#
Not yet verified: tea objects; not named in the record
Periods#
- Qing (Daoguang) – presentPurple-clay production from the Daoguang reign; earlier pottery since the Yuan.1
Kiln sites#
| Site | Period | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Wanyao village (碗窑村), Jianshui | Yuan dragon kiln and shards; purple clay from the Daoguang reign (Qing) | 1 |
Heritage listings#
2008
China national intangible cultural heritage list (国家级非物质文化遗产代表性项目名录), traditional crafts1
- Item
- Ⅷ-98 (序号 881)
- Batch
- second
陶器烧制技艺（建水紫陶烧制技艺）, a sub-item of the shared pottery entry; declared by Jianshui county.
Claims, as stated#
- The heritage record calls the ware lead-free and breathable. (Reported as the record's statement; not tested here.)1
Sources#
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.
- tea objects; not named in the record
- Draft: written 2026-11-02 from the sources listed, all read on that date. Region id is proposed; no region entries exist in teaware data yet, and cha.fyi's region ids were not checked from this thread. Only one source so far. No national protected kiln site found for Jianshui in the lists read (the only Jianshui national site there is the Confucian temple).