Ancient poets, emperors, and purple clay teapots
It should come as no surprise that many eminent people throughout Chinese history have loved tea. What is peculiar, however, is that some of the most famous, cultured individuals China has ever seen also fell in love with a particular kind of teapot, made out of a material called Yixing purple clay.
Ancient poet Su Dongpo (1037 – 1101) and his original purple clay teapot
Easily one of them most famous writers in Chinese history is Su Dongpo. He lived 1,000 years ago during the Song dynasty (960-1279), but his work is still popular and resonates with the life of modern-day Chinese.
At the same time, this remarkable writer was an enthusiast about tea and purple clay teapots. He even devised a novel, classic teapot called a “Dongpo Cross Beam Pot,” which modern potters still try to mimic tirelessly.
Su would work day and night on his poetry and other work, so he would frequently rely on tea to keep him awake. He was irritated by the tiny pots of the day, which were much too small to hold a whole night’s worth of tea.
Therefore he intended to make a big teapot by himself. He bought some purple clay, and started to shape and work with it. But several months passed, and he still failed to complete a decent pot. Can you imagine how anxious he was?
Then finally, as the poor poet was still worrying about the pot, a boy attendant came over and invited Su to enjoy a small meal with him. Su’s face lit up as soon as he took notice of a lantern in the boy’s hand. “Great! I will make a large teapot based on this lantern!” he thought.
After just a few tries, Su perfected the lantern-shaped teapot. But there was a problem: it was heavy and slick, so no one could hold it. Even attaching the standard teapot handle was not enough. After thinking for some time, Su crafted a long, U-shaped handle that hung over the pot and attached to both the front and back. This handle was easy to carry, and gave great leverage when pouring tea out of the large belly of the pot.
After that, Su was constantly using his special big teapot while intently creating his poems. Some say he had even spent more time with the pot than with his own son. At present, there are still a number of master potters trying to emulate Su’s original design. They give their imitations a name Dongpo Cross Beam Pot, according to Su’s name and the characteristics of his famous pot.
Here’s a photo of one such pot, taken in Su’s old home:
A famous emperor and purple clay teapots
Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) was on the throne for 60 years. He lived to be 89 years old and was the oldest emperor in Chinese imperial history.
He was a huge fan of tea, and some say this addiction was what helped him live such a long life. He would go from place to place, sampling the tea across his vast kingdom.
To go with his fanaticism over tea, Qianlong was also serious about his teaware. He thought Yixing purple clay teapots were the finest in the world. Almost every time he had a cup of tea, he demanded that it be brewed from a purple clay teapot. He thought these teapots brought the best out of his tea.
Emperor Qianlong appointed specialists to select the best purple clay teapots from Yixing, or to design the most appealing styles. Favored by emperors like Qianlong, Yixing purple clay teapots earned a great reputation soon. Nowadays, people are proud of owning good purple clay teapots. Although we have no chance to being an emperor for even one day, we can pick a purple clay teapot and experience the pleasure that emperors used to have.