Zi Ye Shi Piao (160ml) Aged Duan Ni Clay Yixing Teapot with Engraving

The Zi Ye Shi Piao honors Qu Zi Ye, the potter who invented the original Shi Piao shape long ago. This version stands taller and feels stronger, with small updates to the bamboo details for a fresh touch.

Half-handmade from Aged Duan Ni (老段泥), a rested clay with lighter beige-brown color, mineral flecks, and fine pores. It seasons quickly, softens harshness and brings out sweetness with floral notes.  Perfect for daily brewing and developing its own character.

About the Engraving
This teapot is engraved with “冬心先生余藏其画竹研，研背有竹一枝，即取其意。板桥有此一纵一横，颇有逸情，子冶藏板桥画盖仿梅花盦者。仿梅道人子冶". It describes how Qu Zi Ye drew inspiration from two earlier masters: Jin Nong (Winter Heart / 冬心先生), who painted a single bamboo branch on the back of an inkstone, and Zheng Banqiao (Board Bridge / 板桥), famous for his bold, free bamboo strokes—one vertical, one horizontal. Zi Ye admired the relaxed, elegant spirit of those simple lines and blended them into his own design on this teapot lid, then signed it as his imitation.

It shows respect for tradition while adding personal creativity, a beautiful hallmark of scholar-influenced Yixing teapot art where poetry, painting and pottery come together.