Jianshui Teapot - Sweet Osmanthus 桂花
Shipping
Orders to Europe & Americas: Shipped from European Union, Italy — delivered in 1–5 days (EU) or 5–12 days (non-EU).
Orders to Asia, Africa & Oceania: For the best service, please order from our dedicated website: www.easternleaves.asia
Your order will be shipped directly from our warehouse in Yunnan, China.
For European countries there is no custom-clearance procedure; for all the other shipments we accompany the package with all the necessary papers to ensure the fastest process possible.
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Europe
North America
Asia and Oceania
Check our new dedicated website: www.easternleaves.asia
Other countries
Important Note on Shipping to the USA
To ensure your shopping experience is as smooth and transparent as possible, we would like to inform you that, as this is an international shipment, U.S. customs authorities may apply import taxes or duties upon arrival of your package in the country.
Our store does not include these potential fees in the product price or checkout shipping costs, as they are charges applied directly by the U.S. government and vary based on your specific state and the order value.
To help you plan accordingly, we recommend checking with your local customs office for an estimate of any additional charges. We're here to help and can provide any information you need about the contents of your order.
Should you incur any import duties, we would be happy to include an additional 10% in product value with your next order as a courtesy and a thank-you for your understanding.
Processing & Shipping Schedule
We ship orders every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you have a specific request, simply add a note during checkout and we'll do our best to accommodate you.
Shipping Carriers & Pickup Options
Orders to Italy: shipped via BRT. You can choose a BRT pickup point.
Orders to Europe & USA: shipped via DHL Express or UPS. You can select a UPS Access Point (Europe) or a DHL Service Point (USA).
Orders to Asia: shipped via EMS. For more details, see www.easternleaves.asia.
Eastern Leaves’s Guarantee
Your happiness is our priority. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, we will happily honor a return or exchange.
Every item is expertly packaged to ensure it arrives safely and beautifully. In the rare event that an item is damaged during shipping, please contact us immediately at info@easternleaves.com and we will replace it free of charge.
Our collection of Jiangshui Zitao teapots is carefully selected in the studio of the artist Pu Xuemei 普雪梅.
Each teapot is a unique artwork, fully made, carved, painted, and polished by hand following the local tradition.
Jiàn Shuǐ 建水 and its pottery history
Jianshui is a thousand-year-old city whose name comes from water, but its legend lives on through fire.
Its ceramic history dates back to the Neolithic Age. Pottery was fired at Wanyao during the Song and Yuan dynasties; from the early Ming era, its kilns fired celadon and blue-and-white, until the Qing Dynasty gave birth to purple pottery: Zitao. For centuries, they have blazed on, passed down through generations.
Zitao 紫陶 : a unique clay
Zitao quickly became a one-of-a-kind standout, all because of its clay.
The earth of Jianshui is red, like the soil of Yunnan's tea mountains. Under warm, wet weathering, rain strips away the soluble elements (potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium) and leaves iron, aluminium and silicon behind. Iron oxides accumulate, and the earth turns red.
Jianshui zitao is notably tough, because the clay is exceptionally fine and the temperatures of firing are high, 1120–1180 °C. At that heat, the potassium and iron in the clay melt and form a glass that binds every particle into a dense body.
The result is a fired clay with tiny, closely packed pores: about 1.2% porosity in the red clay, against 6.7% in Yixing zisha. Jianshui Zitao teaware have an extremely smooth, almost mirror-like finish, and tones ranging from deep brown to bronzed red and metallic black.
The creation of Jingshui Zitao
The creation of Jianshui Zitao is a patient, meticulous dance between natural materials, human mastery, and fire. Long before the potter’s hands touch the wheel, the journey begins with preparing the clay. A blend of local clays is chosen according to the nature of the intended vessel. The raw earth is crushed, soaked, thoroughly mixed, and sieved through an exceptionally fine mesh. It is then left to rest in quiet dark for at least three months, aging until its plasticity reaches perfection. Once matured, the clay is brought to the studio, where the potter starts working on the wheel, shaping the supple body into a balanced, elegant form.
The decorations are made while the clay remains damp and receptive. Calligraphers and painters brush poetry, flora, or sweeping landscapes directly onto the wet surface.
Next comes the most unforgiving stage: carving and filling with colored clay (yīn kè yáng tián). Artisans meticulously carve out the brushed lines in intaglio, then fill the hollowed spaces with clay pastes of contrasting colors. This phase allows no room for error. If the artisan’s hand trembles or carves too shallowly, the artwork vanishes during trimming with no way to recover the drawing. If they press too hard, they pierce through the thin wall, instantly ruining the piece.
Once fully dried, the vessel undergoes firing, at high temperature. Because Jianshui clay is naturally rich in iron, the atmosphere within the kiln dictates its ultimate personality: an oxygen-rich reduction fire yields warm, earth-bound browns and reds, while an oxygen-starved environment transforms the vessel into a deep, lustrous, near-black hue.
Finally, the fired vessel is polished without glaze. Armed with river stones and fine pebbles, the artisan works the raw clay body through a painstaking progression—moving from rough matte, to soft satin, to brilliant gloss, and finally to a glassy, mirror-like sheen.
Though Jianshui produces various ceramic styles—including coarse pottery and blue-and-white wares—only a piece that endures and completes all six of these exacting stages earns the right to be called true Jianshui Zitao.
