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China’s Favourite Pottery for Tea, Yixing Ware

July 1 – October 16, 2016 | Founders Gallery | Curated by Barry Till

The brown Yixing stoneware teapots caught the fancy of many tea connoisseurs throughout the years. They rose to prominence with the Chinese literati of the Ming and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties who used the stoneware as their preferred vessels. To this day, they continue to be popular among people everywhere. Small Yixing teapots were said to be best for enhancing and retaining a tea’s colour, flavour, and aroma; a fine complement to an intimate gathering of two or three friends. Some scholars commissioned Yixing potters to make pots for them embellished with a calligraphic inscription or landscape scene. The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria has nearly 100 Yixing items donated by Carol Potter Peckham of San Francisco and just received a donation of several hundred teapots from Roger Lee in various wonderful, innovative and comical shapes designed to intrigue all!