ART 198 - HISTORY OF WORLD CERAMICS

The town of Yixing, on the shores of Lake Tai, has a tradition of stoneware production dating to Shang times. Yixing is best known for the production of unglazed stoneware teapots made from the local dark reddish brown clay. Often these teapots take unusual forms such as seen here, in the form of a bundle of bamboo. These teapots are very functional and are still in production to this day. Several contemporary ceramic artists, Richard Notkin for example, have been influenced by Yixing ware. His Yixing style teapots in the form of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactors were based on the aesthetics of Yixing teapots.

Yixing Teapot in the form of a bundle of bamboo, China, Qing Dynasty, 1700 CE