Yixing: Miniature "Hu" Shape Yixing Zisha Teapot in the Three Friends of Winter Theme 周記名壺Many similar shaped teapots were made around the turn of the 20 century for the world expositions that took place in famous cities in Europe and in North America. This is an unusually small teapot with a rich zisha stoneware clay. The theme of the teapot is the Three Friends of Winter, pine bamboo and plum blossom. The teapot is 5 inches long and 3. 75 inches high. There is a 4 character square impressed seal "zhou ji ming hu" famous teapots from Zhou

It is hard to see but the elongated body is fluted

The carving is very subtle and the artist/carver cleverly carved above a rust color vein so it became the base of a large lotus leaf

This horde of new materials were of great interest to ceramicists because they were able to find pieces with late Tang Dynasty dates (CE 618 - 907

He would love this porcelain paper weight painted with a traditional Chinese Snow Scape

Clumps of pine needles on the end of branches grew out sideways from the of the tree branch knob

The bottle has a flattened oblong shape tapering to a small raised oval foot

The carving found a stone of two colors

with a slight taper towards the raised oval foot

The purpose of these dated and named objects remain a mystery and they will remain a puzzle that I hope someday will  be resolved

Dimensions: 2 1/4 inch in diameter

Dimensions: 7

please note dryness has caused a tiny bit of loss on the surface