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teatime

Yixing: Dicaoqing

9/19/2018

2 Comments

 
by Patrick and Siyan

​We continue our series on Yixing clay, also known as zisha, by looking at Dicaoqing 底槽青, a kind of zini 紫泥 or purple clay. 
Picture
Yixing Teapot made of Dicaoqing Clay

Chicken Eyes 
Dicaoqing is one of the most well-known kinds of zini. It was originally mined from the now-closed no. 4 and no. 5 mines in Huang Long Shan 黄龙山 and is found when mining other zini. The ore of dicaoqing is easily identified by greenish grey spots,  referred to as “chicken eyes” 鸡眼 jiyan. The low amount of oxidized iron in these areas causes the greenish discoloration in the ore. 
Picture
Dicaoqing ore on the left, dicaoqing teapot on the right
Picture
"Chicken eyes" in dicaoqing ore, photo taken from the book 阳羡茗砂土.

What’s in a name?
The name for dicaoqing comes from where the miners would find dicaoqing while mining zisha ore. After deciding where to dig, zisha miners would dig out a trench or “trough” (槽 cao) to mine the ore. The common name for zini at that time was “qingni” 青泥. Dicaoqing was found at the bottom (di 底) of the trench (cao 槽) of qingni (青泥). The name dicaoqing 底槽青 roughly translates to “at the bottom of the qingni trench”.

Red or Purple
One of the interesting things about dicaoqing (although not unique to this clay), is how firing temperature affects the final color of the clay. The firing temperature for the clay is between 1150-1250°C. Between that range the color of dicaoqing changes drastically. Firing at a lower temperature, such as around 1150-1170°C results in a dark red that can be described as sienna or “pig liver red." Firing at a higher temperature results in a much darker color, closer to dark brown/purple.
Picture
Dicaoqing clay fired at different temperatures
Picture
(Above) Dicaoqing fired at medium temperature is redder than (below) the clay fired at high temperature. Photo and captions from the book 阳羡茗砂土.

A Clay for a Versatile Teapot
Dicaoqing can be used like a zini clay teapot. Zini or purple Yixing clay is favored by Chinese tea drinkers because of its versatility. Not as porous as duanni, but more porous than zhuni, dicaoqing, like all zini clay teapots, is seen as a good clay for most kinds of tea. We find that sheng and shu puer, green oolong, yancha, black tea, all do well in this kind of clay.
Picture
Dicaoqing Teapot fired at a temperature of over 1200C.
2 Comments
Alexander Øynes link
1/4/2020 08:21:08 am

Hello, I wondered if you know of someone who sells this type of clay? It would have been fun to try to build something out of this milled stone clay.

Reply
Ida
11/3/2020 02:08:46 am

Hey, I've found this kind of clay on chineseclayart.com :) I've just bought some, so I'm waiting for the shipping ^^

Reply



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    Authors
    ​

    Siyan comes from Guangdong, China. A student of Chinese tea and tea culture, Siyan not only sources the finest Porcelain, Ruyao and other ceramic wears from our partners, she also researches the history of ceramics in China.
    ​
    Patrick first arrived in China over 10 years ago. A tea lover and Chinese ceramic collector, Patrick has too many teapots and probably drinks too much tea.

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