Description
 
Yixing Zisha Aged Purple Clay Lightning Drum Teapot (225ml)
 
This Lightning Drum Teapot is fully handmade with top quality aged purple clay. The pot is made to display the sacred drum which is used for the celebration of lightning festival. During the lightning festival, there are thousands of lightning  striking in the sky while people are celebrating by hitting the big drum as a honor to the God.
 
On one side, it is engraved with "擊缶鼓洗俗塵" meaning "Hit the drum and clear the sin". n the other side engraving "雨前新煮建溪春"  meaning "Before the rain, make tea with the spring water"
 
The 30 year old aged purple mud is the purple clay of Huanglong Mountain. It was refining and aged since the 1980s, and its existence is limited. It is high fired at about 1180 degrees.  After firing, it is slightly purple and reddish inside , the color is mature and stable, dignified and solemn. After the raising,  there is a hint of imperial glaze in the simplicity which makes it one of the most popular clay type. It goes well with most teas including :Light Roasted Oolongs , Raw & Ripe Puerh, Black , White , Green Teas
 
This teapot holds approximately 225ml (+/- 5ml) and features a flat filter and tight-fitting lid. The walls of this teapot are thick,  but it allows for a very stable and comfortable hand feel that has to be experienced to fully appreciate. It also includes a certificate from the artist indicating the artist’s name, teapot shape and clay composition.
 
Zisha (‘purple sand’) describes the reddish-brown color of the sedimentary soil which settled in ancient lakes and is now buried deep underground. The clay is compressed under heavy sedimentary rock formations throughout the Yixing region, southwest of Shanghai, in China’s Jiangsu province. Huanglong Mountain near Dingshu township has been the source of high quality purple clay ore for centuries. The mountain itself is rather ordinary – neither grand or pretty – but it is 350 million years old.
 
These teapots are prized because their unglazed surfaces absorb traces of the beverage and develop a patina, which enhances the taste, color and aroma of fine tea.