Clay: golden duanni
Potter: handmade by Liu Xiuhua (劉秀華)
Capacity: 150ml
Weight: 68g
 
The ‘Shui Ping’ is one of the most timeless Yixing teapot shapes, known for its quick pour and being easy to use. This teapot has been handmade with great care and skill, evidenced by its incredibly light weight and its well-balanced shape that lends itself to use in the tea ceremony.
 
This teapot has been crafted according to the ‘half-hand’ (半手工) tradition, where the body of the pot is shaped in a gypsum case, while the handle, spout, lid and holes are shaped and fixed entirely by hand.
 
Due to the density of Golden Duanni (黄金段泥) clay, this teapot is better able to retain the aroma and taste of the tea being brewed, and is well suited for use with a variety of different teas, though I particularly like it for Sheng Pu'er, green, black and oolong.
 
This teapot stands apart from the rest, featuring delicate hand-carved work, an engraving of the famous Chinese poem, ‘The Scholar’s Humble Dwelling’ (陋室铭), originally written by Liu Yuxi (劉禹錫) - a famous Chinese essayist, philosopher, and poet active during the Tang dynasty. 
 
The inscription reads as follows:
山不在高，有仙則名；水不在深，有龍則靈。斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。苔痕上階綠，草色入簾青。談笑有鴻儒，往來無白丁。可以調素琴，閱金經。無絲竹之亂耳，無案牘之勞形。南陽諸葛廬，西蜀子雲亭。孔子云：「何陋之有？」
 
Who heeds the hill's bare height until
Some legend grows around the hill?
Who cares how deep the stream before
Its fame is writ in country lore?
And so this humble hut of mine
May shelter virtues half divine.
The moss may climb its ruined stair,
And grassy stains the curtain wear,
But scholars at their ease within,
For all but Ignorance enters in,
With simple lute the time beguile,
Or "Golden Classic's" page a while.
No discords here their ears assail,
Nor cares of business to bewail.
This is the life the Sages led.
"How were they poor?" Confucius said.
 
(Trans. James Black)