Apprentice Red Blossom Yixing

A Yixing teapot that caught my eye when I visited Red blossoms store in San Fransico.  It is a piece that I feel Sen No Rikyu could get behind, because while the piece is not without its flaws (few at that, but still there), it brews good tea, and that is what is important.  Interestingly enough it shows its use quickly, and some of the more apparent flaws are on the inside there are a few odd blemishes in which it is not picture perfect.  There also is a slight drip from the lid while pouring.

Not to mention from a bit of an visual point of view it appears as though at one point in time this pot was dragged across a rough surface before being fired.  As the base is quite scuffed up and has been from the moment I acquired it "new."  While I have no problem admitting I am a novice when it comes to yixing, something about this pot just strikes me.  Most importantly it brews good tea.  

Xu De Jia Celadon Teabowl

I have long avoided celadon, not because I didn't like it but because I was worried I would like it too much. There is just something about the soft greenish/greyish blue color glaze looking like a giant marshmallow wrapped around the piece that looks so inviting. Not only that but celadon is notorious for having the cracks in the glaze stain.

But I was visiting teashops while in San Fransico, and at Red Blossom Tea I saw 3 styles of tea bowls, I sort of wanted one of each and when I called later to acquire one it was tough to decide upon just one. Let me just say I love the satin style celadon glaze, that looks so soft and inviting. It surely takes on stain quickly mine having been in my possession for less than a week already looks quite old and wizened on the inside.

For being a sizable celadon piece, it is phenomenal, as most celadons of this style are only done on smaller cups, but this one being nearly 4 inches exactly in diameter. It surely is a centerpiece, and I can not wait to attempt to make Matcha in this bowl, although at exactly 4 inches in diameter, it might be a bit tough to adequately whisk inside the bowl.

Set Cohesion?

Most of my teaware is quite piecemeal, in the sense that I have hardly any pieces that match, besides the fact that any grouping of plain white porcelain seems to be a set. Just about all my teaware is a stand alone piece. I basically have no sets besides the one pictured.

Its an interesting question, should someone seek harmony in the appearance of the pieces, in that they are all basically identical. By that I mean same glaze, same shape same everything. I almost find this sort of cohesion almost boring, while somewhat pleasing. I have taken to creating themes with my teaware either based on glaze, shape, or artist.

For example I have a favorite pairing which is all by Deishi Shibuya, pictured below. Two of the pieces are the same glazes, while the third is a different glaze. Its actually a perfect grouping in the sense that its not identical but has a wonderful set of symmetry that it looks like they belong together.

I almost feel these set groupings are best, in the sense that few artists create pieces as part of a set. So these piecemeal groupings might actually be best.