Phoenix teapot

A phoenix of purple earth

In China, people have been drinking tea for thousands of years. However, the Chinese did not always prepare their tea in the way we know it. Over the centuries, the preparation of tea went through a long development. Until finally the teapot came on the scene.

In the early days of tea, the Chinese prepared the drink by steaming the tea leaves, together with aromatic spices such as ginger. A little later, they processed the leaves into so-called tea tiles, which were grated over a bowl of boiling water. During the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), people switched to using green tea powder. The hot water went directly into the cup, after which the powder was beaten through it with a bamboo whisk. But this method did not last long either. Buddhist monks did take the method to Japan, where it is still used today during the chanoyu, the ritual tea ceremony.

In the meantime, a new way of making tea had emerged in China. During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the tea leaves were steeped in hot water. A special pot was needed for this: the teapot. The most popular teapots in China were – and still are – made in Yixing in the south of China. For these teapots, a type of clay called ‘purple earth’ is used. Due to the high iron content, the baked clay gets a colour that varies from ochre to purple-brown. The clay is mined in the area around Yixing. It is the only place where this clay is found and that makes the reddish-brown pots very characteristic.

One of the reasons for the popularity of Yixing teapots is the great variety of models. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, teapots were made to suit the taste of the educated Chinese elite. These pots were generally very small and undecorated. In the West, however, these simple teapots were considered boring. People wanted larger ones and imaginative shapes. So when drinking tea became popular in the West at the end of the seventeenth century – especially in the Netherlands and England – the Yixing potters catered to the taste of their new Western clientele.

Teapot in the shape of a phoenix with silver mounting, Yixing, China, 1675 - 1725, stoneware, h. 11.3 cm, on loan from Ottema-Kingma Foundation.

The teapot we see here is one of those pots that was made for the new European market. It is shaped like a traditional Chinese mythical bird: the phoenix. The bird turns its head and the full tail forms the handle. Oddly enough, the tea is not poured from the bird's mouth, as you might expect, but from a small spout in its chest. The lid is shaped like clouds. The silver mount with which it is attached was added later, in the Netherlands. To us it is a strange object. But for a Dutch family of good standing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such a fantasy teapot must have been a particularly exotic and desirable showpiece.

Imitation

Many people know that Delft potters in the seventeenth century were good at imitating Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, but not that they were also successful in imitating Yixing teapots. Due to the popularity of tea, the demand for these teapots also increased. A number of Delft potters saw that there was money to be made in this, and they imitated Chinese stoneware teapots with red earthenware. The pottery bakery of Ary de Milde was well-known, which had the appropriate name ‘De Gecroonde Theepot’. However, there were a number of difficulties to overcome. The clay had to have a fine structure that ensured that the teapot, after it had been baked, no longer allowed water to pass through. In addition, the clay had to be baked at a higher temperature than Delftware. Another problem was shaping the teapot. In China, Yixing teapots were made by putting different slabs of clay together by hand. In Delft, the potter's wheel was used to make the teapots, but this did not allow for the complicated Chinese shapes. The Delft versions are therefore often simpler in shape.

Eva Ströber, former curator Asian ceramics at Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, with thanks to Aafke Koole.