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Most of the following listings are single-item products. To purchase following listed items, please contact us for an invoice.
All teapots have excellent clay and firing conditions. Unless otherwise stated, all teapots have perfect alignments of structure.
Unless otherwise stated, all Yixing Factory #1 teapots have slightly (and only slightly) looser lid fit than modern teapot. It will be specified if the teapot has relatively perfect lid fit (better than average) or quite loose lid fit (poorer than average). In many cases, teapots with slightly looser lid fit can still achieve fair to good to excellent water seal. Here perfect water seal is defined as (only applied to teapots of certain sizes and styles): if the teapot is filled with water and the hole on the knob is covered, water won't flow out of the teapot when the teapot is put at a regular pouring angle. Most teapots here, including those that are not so great at lid fit or water seal, give smooth and excellent pour. It will be specified if there is pouring problem.
Many vintage teapots have some small structural flaws. We would avoid teapots with flaws that affect functions, and will try our best to describe any major flaw of each teapot. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about specific teapots.
1992 Yixing Factory #1 Purple Clay "little bun", Third Yixing Ceramic Arts Festival custom order souvenir, $140, #pot1992yishujieLast updated 2016-07-30
These teapots were custom order by some Korean tea merchant for the third Yixing Ceramic Arts Festival (which took place in 1992. The clay and firing are great. Craftsmanship is pretty good - better
than the average level of craftsmanship for regular styles (such as shui
ping) in Factory #1 at that period, genreally speaking. Water seal is not good.
Lid fit looks fine from the appearance. We've selected all these teapots
that have relatively good lid fit and don't have major flaws.
The bottom seal says "The Third Ceramic Arts Festival Souvenir" and there is a lovely Korean character. It seems one of the characters in Korean word "teapot." More photos are available here.
The stainless steel strainer showed in the photos is not included in the sale. But we could send one along if you would need one. It will come with the teapot only upon request.
1997 Yixing Factory #1 Duan Ni Shui Ping, $160, out of stockMore photos of this teapot are available here.
This teapot has no major flaws. The detailed craftsmanship is way above the average level of mid to late 1990s Yixing Factory #1 commercial level teapots.
Water seal can be achieved only if the lid is rotated to certain angle. This teapot is not great at water seal. But from the appearance, the lid sits on the pot very well.
This belongs to the last generation of Factory #1 products. Some of the 1997 Shui Ping teapots are made by Jing Dian Tao Fang (most of them have stamp of "China, Yixing") using Factory #1 clay and facility. This teapot has stamp of Yixing Zisha Art Factory (the official name of Yixing Factory #1). Hence it's a product of Factory #1.
More photos of this teapot are available here. (The silver patch showed in one of the photos is just residual of trade mark sticker and is very easy to wash off before use.)
 This teapot has a slightly tilted spout, which could be seen from the top-down view photo. This doesn't affect the pouring, which is still great. The lid fit doesn't look bad from the appearance, but it's not perfect. Water seal is not good.
More photos of this teapot are available here. (There are two small rice grain size chips under the lid and one tiny sesame grain size chip on the outer rim of the opening, all showed in the pictures. These defects are factored into the price.)
This is a classic style of Yixing Factory #1. It was rarely mimicked after 1990s (most mimic works focused on the more "regular" ones such as shui ping). When I first saw this teapot, I thought it was a Yixing Factory #1 teapot, and its clay texture is comparable to the top level of Yixing Factory #1 clay in 1980s-1990s. Only after looking up the craftswoman, we came to the conclusion that she is too young for the Factory #1 era and she worked in Yixing Factory #5 instead. So this teapot is NOT a Factory #1 teapot. However, the clay texture is great, and firing is very similar to that of Factory #1 in 1990s. Great craftsmanship. Perfect alignment of structure. Perfect lid fit. Water seal is great (which is exceptional for teapots of this style, as this style usually isn't even brought up to water seal test). Unfortunately, this teapot has got 3 small chips (as showed in the photos) under the lid and at the outer rim of the opening. None of these chips would affect the function of the teapot. But it's still a pity.
Height is 2.25". Diameter is 3".
1980s gold rim translucent cup is available at $9 each. Photos are here (bottom stamps vary).
1980s-1990s translucent cup of similar style (same size as above, no gold rim) is available at $1 each for regular quality (no defects), and $5 each for high quality. Photos are here (bottom stamps vary).
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