|Zisha Teapot at the Nanjing Museum, China|
This is a Ming dynasty teapot that is dated to 1533 and is the earliest piece of YiXing Zisha teaware.
It is an important archaeological find forthe YiXing teaware.
It was found in an excavation in NanJing, China in a Ming dynasty tomb of a palace
servant - a eunuch by the name of Wu Jing.
It is considered to be one of the oldest evidence of a YiXing teapot during the Ming dynasty.
Although not a YiXing teapot by definition - because it is not made of pure Zisha clay and the process of making this teapot differs slightly from a YiXing teapot.
Further evidence shows that this teapot was used for boiling tea and not brewing tea.
However, this teapot-kettle marks the transition of the way tea was being made - from boiling the tea to brewing the tea - 1531-1595.