Perplexody
Shohin
Random pot I noticed had a chop but it's incomplete, is it just Chinese production
ID a partial chop?
- Thread starter Perplexody
- Start date
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,448
- Reaction score
- 23,687
- USDA Zone
- 5b
My guess is that the signature is Chinese, not Japanese, but I could be mistaken. Do you have a better photo of the whole pot?
Perplexody
Shohin
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,448
- Reaction score
- 23,687
- USDA Zone
- 5b
My guess is Yi Xing, China. An area known for "purple clay" of this color. Yi Xing tea pots are world famous and can be quite valuable. I have a carved relief dragon pot that cost me more than a car payment. The Yi Xing kilns made "production grade" pots for export in addition to or because the high end market was not big enough.
Looking at the rough interior finish, I would guess this is a "production grade" pot, meaning good quality but not a piece that would get a premium price. Anywhere from $45 to $145, in part depending on size. The signature was probable a kiln mark more than an artist's mark. If I was selling, I'd expect the lower half of the range I gave you. But I have not bought or sold any Chinese pots in a couple years.
Looking at the rough interior finish, I would guess this is a "production grade" pot, meaning good quality but not a piece that would get a premium price. Anywhere from $45 to $145, in part depending on size. The signature was probable a kiln mark more than an artist's mark. If I was selling, I'd expect the lower half of the range I gave you. But I have not bought or sold any Chinese pots in a couple years.
Perplexody
Shohin
Is it safe to assume similar or even identical pots in a collection without the same kiln mark are still possibly from the same kiln
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,448
- Reaction score
- 23,687
- USDA Zone
- 5b
I've seen Yi Xing pots with two sets of chops. One is the artist, one is the kiln mark. I can't read Chinese, I just know what my business partner at the time would tell us. He was a Chinese national, and would do our group's purchasing in YiXing. This was 3 decade's ago. If 2 pots have different chops, they are from different artists and or different kilns. Yi Xing "purple clay" comes from a fairly large area, there are dozens of kilns and potentially many more than that many artists. All have access to the same dark purple clay.
If you want details you need someone who is able to read Chinese, or is more familiar with current business in Yi Xing. My experiment was having orchid pots made, not Bonsai pots. I still have a few Yi Xing clay Yang Lan pots.
Paph vietnamense orchid in Yang Lan pot from YiXing kiln. Note this one was not "purple clay", the kilns make all colors, purple, Terra cotta and a unique yellow clay, I have this one because all the purple sold out instantly. I had to fight to keep one or two purple pieces. We dissolved the partnership in 1992, so I don't have easy access to YiXing any more.
If you want details you need someone who is able to read Chinese, or is more familiar with current business in Yi Xing. My experiment was having orchid pots made, not Bonsai pots. I still have a few Yi Xing clay Yang Lan pots.
Paph vietnamense orchid in Yang Lan pot from YiXing kiln. Note this one was not "purple clay", the kilns make all colors, purple, Terra cotta and a unique yellow clay, I have this one because all the purple sold out instantly. I had to fight to keep one or two purple pieces. We dissolved the partnership in 1992, so I don't have easy access to YiXing any more.
Perplexody
Shohin
In my case there were several pots that were the same but the one I got was the only with a mark, the rest had no mark at all 
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
- Messages
- 11,448
- Reaction score
- 23,687
- USDA Zone
- 5b
No mark, you can't or should not make any assumptions about what kiln it comes from. No mark means "production grade", all over the region, the business is making pots. Many kilns share molds, and or copy each others pot styles for the "production grade" pots. No kiln marks means it could have come from any of a hundred or so kilns in the region. They all use the same clay. No mark, means just that.
When we were in business in late 1980's a thru 1992, YiXing, for a price offered to ship raw unfired purple clay to Chicago. We could then create our own line of pottery in real YiXing clay. We could have our own "kiln mark" or make no mark pottery. Luckily, I recognized my own lack of talent and left the clay work to the real artists in China.
Point of that is an unmarked pot made with purple clay could have been made in Korea or anywhere that imported purple clay from China. They do export raw clay.
No kiln mark, make no assumptions.
Eventually, our group dissolved in 1992. The complexity of importing is too big a headache for me to consider getting back into.
When we were in business in late 1980's a thru 1992, YiXing, for a price offered to ship raw unfired purple clay to Chicago. We could then create our own line of pottery in real YiXing clay. We could have our own "kiln mark" or make no mark pottery. Luckily, I recognized my own lack of talent and left the clay work to the real artists in China.
Point of that is an unmarked pot made with purple clay could have been made in Korea or anywhere that imported purple clay from China. They do export raw clay.
No kiln mark, make no assumptions.
Eventually, our group dissolved in 1992. The complexity of importing is too big a headache for me to consider getting back into.
Last edited:
