a well-designed teapot
井栏
–
jing lan
–
well ring
This is another teapot designed by our friend Mansheng, with several variations available. The story goes that Mansheng was sitting in a backyard with his friend whom he designed teapots with. It just so happened that there was a well in that backyard and a maid happened to be in the process of fetching some water, bending over the well. Mansheng looked at the maid (of course) and observed that the bent body of the maid looked just like the handle of a teapot, with the well ring being the teapot body. Thus this shape was created.
Mansheng also created another type of Jinglan teapot named Fanggu Jinglan. In this case, Fanggu doesn’t refer to the teapot shape Fanggu but just means that it mimics something old. Mansheng took a well ring from the Tang Dynasty (for Mansheng, that was before his time, so old) that existed in the town of Liyang. It is still there in a park in Liyang today (the well, not the teapot). Even the inscription on the well and the inscription of the original Mansheng teapot are the same. This well ring teapot has a bit more roundedness toward the top part as well as another edge, just like the original well.
Another type of Jinglan teapot is the tall jinglan designed by teapot master 顾景舟 Gu Jingzhou, a variation of Mansheng’s teapot. In addition to being taller, the lid and knob are also slightly different.
Get yourself some ‚Teapot Shapes I‘ and ‚Teapot Shapes II‘ postcards!
LY
