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One brown earthenware teapot with lid. The handle is composed of two entwined branches of free form. Handle of lid as well as spout is formed of branches, that of the lid bearing a grape- bunch and leaf. Grapevines and squirrel-like rodents adorn body of pot. Handmade I-Hsing ware, for table use. The celebrated I-Hsing ware was made at Yi-Hsing Hsien in Kiangsu, not far from Shanghai__a place famous for elegantly-shaped teapots of unglazed stoneware in deep and light red, chocolate brown, buff, drab, and black- brown. The true form of teapot began in the early 1500's, before which time tea bowls were in vogue. Yi-Hsing potters soon fashioned all manner of fanciful forms such as fruits (pomegranate, persimmon, citron), the leaf or seed pod of the lotus, creatures such as fish leaping from waves, a phoenix, and other quaint shapes, always skillfully and artistically modelled. Few nicks on rim of lip.

1987.003.001