Are these real Yixing?
So a few months ago I bought this lot of teapots off Ebay to add to my teapot collection. They looked kinda like yixing pots (or at least 3 of them did), but I didn’t buy them on the expectation of them being real yixing. I just liked how they looked. The three have stamps on them. The last one doesn’t but, I’m pretty sure it’s the least ‘real’ of all of them. The lids of all of them fit pretty securely. I can’t really rattle them about when they’re on.
Honestly I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to tell a real yixing if it bit me on the butt. Lol! So I was hoping someone here would be able to tell me if any of these are real or are they all fakes? I wouldn’t care either way, but if they’re real/usable, so much the better.
These are the pictures I took. Hopefully they’re clear enough. If anyone needs other pictures let me know and I can try to take better ones. Also, I’m sorry if any of the stamps are sideways/upside down. It was all squiggles to me. XD
Spider Pot – I call it this because it’s got a spider inside the lid. I was hoping it was crab or something from what I saw in the original pictures, but I realized it was a spider. I know it’s just clay, but I just about dropped the lid. XD
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot1 (This is pretty close to the actual color)
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot2
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot3 (Inside of lid)
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot4 (Bottom of pot)
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot5 (Inside)
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot6 (Inside spout)
- http://tinyurl.com/SpiderPot7 (Inside bottom – that little off-color square is where the mark is on the bottom)
Teapot Pot
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot1 (It’s kinda more reddish than this, though still dark brown)
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot2 (Inside of lid)
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot3 (Bottom of pot)
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot4 (Inside spout – I know this is kinda chewed up looking. There’s also bits of clay clogging the rest of the holes.)
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot5 (Inside bottom – That green is actually just fluff that I didn’t work loose.)
- http://tinyurl.com/TeapotPot6 (Inside)
Marbled Pot
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot1 (Very close to actual color)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot3
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot4 (Inside of lid)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot5 (Bottom of pot)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot6 (Inside spout)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot7 (Inside bottom – This one has all this reddish powdery grit on the bottom/edges/kinda on the sides)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot8 (Better pic of powder)
- http://tinyurl.com/MarbledPot9 (Spout – This was the only one which had a crooked spout.)
Bamboo Pot – This is the one I’m pretty certain is just a neat looking pot. But I figured it didn’t hurt to add.
- http://tinyurl.com/BambooTeapot1
- http://tinyurl.com/BambooTeapot2
- http://tinyurl.com/BambooTeapot3
- http://tinyurl.com/BambooTeapot4
the patinas on #2 and 4 look highly suspicious
I dunno about the Teapot Pot, but the bamboo pot is shiny because it looks like it was painted on the outside. The bottom has bits of a sticker and where little felt feet probly were, so I’m not too concerned with that one. Lol.
to be fair, the teapot pot might just be some type of non-yixing pot that’s supposed to be like that, where the clay is painted with colored slip and polished, like some of the Jian Shui pots yunnan sourcing sells.
the bamboo one though looks like someone smeared it with shoe polish or something to try to fake age it, and really badly too. not sure i’d drink out of it, who knows what they used.
what does the surface feel like on these? is it sticky or greasy? any suspicious smell?
I wasn’t planning on drinking out of any of them unless someone can say ‘yeah, these are/could be real’.
They’re all smooth to the touch on the outside, except the spider pot with is slightly rough/gritty. They inside’s are all kinda rough. And they don’t smell of anything worse than a bit of dusty/powdery clay.
Hi,
I was looking at your pictures. I don’t think any of those pots look like ‘real’ Yixing. I would avoid using those pots to drink tea for now. Amateur/fake Yixing pottery factories/workshops tend to use chemicals to ‘stabilize’ the clay, add shine/patina, colors and such.
The best way to determine is to soak each one in hot water for a while and check for unusual smells, discoloration and some separation of chemicals that would most likely rest on top of the water. I hope you find a more informative answer from other steepter members.
-JC
Thanks. I wasn’t planning on using any of them at all unless certain I could. I’d rather not be poisoned. ^^
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