Help determining if an Yixing Pot is worth buying
I’m looking at preordering an Yixing pot made by 陶顺清 （Tao Shunqing) who is 一厂老艺师 （Factory 1 old/senior art teacher(??)). I’m really not familiar with the terms used to describe peoples’ levels or anything when it comes to Yixing. That said, the quality of the clay looks pretty good and it comes with a certificate authenticating this guy made it. Its also pre order only, they don’t have hundreds sitting by ready to go, which is reassuring.
Here’s the link if that helps: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=520974989460
Thanks for your help!
The fact that this purports to be from an ex-factory 1 potter probably should not be a determining factor to your purchase, just because that’s too easy to make up, and there’s no way to verify it really. Also, the title used in the listing doesn’t give any indication what level he was the Yixing factories, if are to believe his claim. Those official factory titles are 技工 (technician), 工藝美術員(craftsmen),助理工藝美術師(assistant expert craftsman),工藝美術師(expert craftsman),高級工藝美術師(senior expert craftsman),工藝美術大師 (master craftsman). The translations are my very rough translation, but you get the idea.
My understanding is that the certificate of authenticity means very little nowadays as well. It might mean something back in the factory days, but I personally wouldn’t put too much weight on that either
Bottom line, buy it if you like the pot, but since it’s taobao, you should just keep your expectations in check. This blog post about buying tea from Taobao says what my feelings about buying anything from taobao better than I can say it. http://www.marshaln.com/2010/11/tuesday-november-23-2010/
Good luck and let us know how it turns out if you get it!
Looks like a nice pot from the looks of it. How good it is I don’t know. How much in dollars is 288 RMB? Isn’t that only about $35? That’s pretty cheap for a yixing if I am right about the dollar amount. Remember the old saying, you get what you pay for. For that price you will not likely get a high quality pot but on the other hand even an average quality pot can make good tea.
I have a favorite seller on EBay called missteapots. She sells a variety of high quality pots, some for good prices. I don’t know however if she ships within China.
http://stores.ebay.com/missteapots/
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