Newman Huo

    WANG YINXIAN, a senior master in purple clay teapot manufacturing from Yixing, Jiangsu Province, has made more than 300 teapots over the past five decades. Now two of her recent works are being displayed at the “Wind From the Capital of Pottery — The Art of Pottery of Yixing, Jiangsu Province” exhibition at the Guan Shanyue Art Museum through May 22.

    One of them, titled “Dragon Pattern Teapot,” carries the logo of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai on the main body of the teapot, and the other one titled, “Group Happiness Teapot,” has its lid made in a shape of a jumping dragon with a long tail.

    “As a professional purple clay teapot manufacturer, I believe I cannot just know how to make teapots, but also should consider how to develop the traditional art and pass it on to more young people today,” Wang said in an interview after the exhibition’s opening Tuesday.

    In addition to Wang’s two works, the exhibition features products by 17 other Chinese masters of arts and crafts and Chinese masters of pottery from Yixing.

    Highlights of the exhibitions also include six antique purple clay teapots from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and works by late Chinese masters of arts and crafts, Gu Jingzhou and Jiang Rong.

    Yixing purple clay is from the Yixing region. The history of purple clay teapots has been recorded in China since Gong Chun learned how to make teapots from monks at the Jinsha Monastery in Yixing during the reign of Emperor Zhengde (1505-1521) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

    Known as “the pottery capital city of China and teapot center of the world,” Yixing is located on the western side of the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province.

    Ceramic production can be traced back to more than 7,000 years ago in the Yixing region. Historical records show that celadon wares began to be produced in the region during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220).

    Today, Yixing ceramics can be divided into five categories, also known as “five golden flowers of Xixing”: zisha (purple clay), qingci (celadon), jingtao (semi-porcelain dinnerware), caitao (colored pottery), and juntao (Jun glazed pottery).

    At the exhibition, visitors will also be able to see a variety of Yixing ceramic products.