Information on old export yixing, 祥興茶行 - xiáng xīng chá háng pots

Here is a translation of the best info I could find on these pots. I will look again later, but I had to bang out this translation quickly because I probably won't have time to translate until this time next week. Sorry for the bad translation quality. This information was found on a forum at
http://bbs.classicpuer.com.cn/showtopic … amp;page=4
its about halfway down the page. This guy's post is interesting because the pots described are exactly like the ones you have pictured. His pictures are the same, except the seal on the bottom is not like the one he describes, it is rather the company name of a xiamen agricultural import export company. (the name is very similar to the company responsible for the red mark pu'er teas, but not the same one I don't think)

Picture of the seal from his post

Hong Kong Xiang Xing Tea Company
The practice of tea companies custom ordering pots prevailed around the years 1978-1985. Custom ordering pots was most common amongst Hong Kong tea companies. The earliest occurrence of a tea company custom ordering pots with an inscription occurred before and after 1960 by a Malaysian company Gao Quan Fa Tea Company. Hong Kong tea companies ordered quite a lot of standard pots. The earliest were Zisha pigeon beak level pots (gezui shuipinghu) with an indented seal on the bottom of the pot “H441786” stamped with a lead stamp. These pots appeared during the years 1974-1976, there is no information available on the company who ordered them.
       The most famous of all custom made pots was the Xiang Xing Tea Company’s line of standard pots (biaozhun hu.) The most common example is the pot inscribed with the words “Please enjoy Chinese oolong tea” inscribed on it from the line of biaozhun pots that pot connoisseurs are always talking about. The most common clays are hongtu (I assume this is hongni, please correct me if I’m wrong, I will check this out later) and inside zisha-outside hongtu. The shapes are mostly biaozhun标准, xianpiao线瓢，xishi西施, gaotangpo高汤婆 and heipingguo黑苹果. The body of the pot is inscribed with the words “Hong Kong Xiang Xing Tea Company 74 West Ave.” in black enamel. On the other side inscribed with “[we sell] all the famous names. Chenghu TGY, Mantuo Xisanyin SX, Real Jade Guanyin (城虎铁观音幔陀西三印水仙真正玉观音.)
       Throughout the years these pots were in production there were many different lots. The first lot of Xiang Xing Tea Company pots were ordered in about ’78 or ’79. The biaozhun pots came in 4, 6 and 8 cup sizes. Xianpiao and xishi only came in 4 and 6 cup sizes. Hontu and zisha were the most common common clays. A small nuumber of heipingguo pots were made from heitiesha (黑铁砂 black iron sand.) Because in the early period the enamel technique had not been perfected, the coarser characters are earlier than the thinner, more delicate ones. The enamel characters on the earliest pots have some defects. There is no name stamped on the cover, the seal on the bottom is always “Yixing, China” with a clack enamel inscription reading “Xiang Xing Tea Company.” Inside zisha-outside hongtu Xiang Xing pots are later. Pots produced around 1980-83 in the shapes biaozhun, zisha xianpiao and xishi only came in 8 cup size. Inside zisha-outside hongtu came in gaotangpo and pingguo shape. They were stamped with a seal indicating the year of production using the heavenly stems and earthly branches sexegenary dating system: “made in kuihai year” “made in jiazi year” or “made by Jingxi Xuanmengchen” (荆溪惠孟臣制.) A few inside zisha-outside hongtu chahai and other tea ware with a black enamel “Xiang Xing Tea Company” inscription sold out quite quickly. A small number of Xiang Xing Tea Company biaozhun pots and heipingguo pots were produced by the number 2 factory. The clay and throwing technique was noticeably different from the pots produced by the number 1 factory.

original text
香港 祥興茶行
茶行訂製標準壺約莫盛行於1978-1985年，其中以香港茶行訂製壺品較多，但最早的茶行訂製標準壺並於壺身落款者，應屬 1960年前後的馬來西亞「高泉發茶行」。香港茶行訂製標準壺壺品頗多，最早乃採「隱性」落法，底款落「H441786」鉛章的紫砂鴿嘴水平，其成型年代為1974-1976年，訂製茶行已不可考。最有名的茶行訂製壺，莫過於祥興茶行一系列標準壺，亦如請飲中國烏龍茶般，為標準壺系中壺友們較為朗朗上口者。胎土有紅土、紫砂及內紫外紅，其形制有一般標準壺體、線瓢、西施、高湯婆及黑蘋果。壺體上黑釉款一面為「香港 祥興茶行大道西七十四號」，另一面為「馳名 通城虎鐵觀音 幔陀西三印水仙真正玉觀音」，其生產的前後年代有好幾批。首批祥興茶行成型約莫為1978-79年訂制，標準壺體有4、6、8杯，線瓢、西施只有4、6杯，胎土以紅土及紫砂為主，少數黑蘋果為黑鐵砂，因初期上釉技術較差，黑釉字體粗者較細體為早，首批壺體上黑釉字體多少有些缺陷，蓋內已無人名款，底款必為「中國宜興」印款及「祥興茶行」黑釉款。內紫外紅「祥興」略晚，約成型於1980-1983年前後，標準壺、紫砂線瓢、西施只有8杯，內紫外紅有高湯婆及蘋果體，其配合當時天干地支分別落紀元款「葵亥年製」、「甲子年製」或「荊溪惠孟臣製」，少數銷日內紫外紅茶海及茶器亦有「祥興茶行」黑釉款。部份同期的祥興茶行標準壺（黑蘋果）為二廠製作，其胎土、工序與一廠略有差異。

On the Hongtu

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/yata-art/art … p;next=779

Above is a great article about Yixing clay over period by Taiwainese experienced blogger, I don't quite understand the traditional Chinese yet,

But from my understanding, Hongtu is from Huang Long Shan that it makes a difference from Xiao Hongni (it's from Zhao Zhuang Shan I believe)

IMO Hongtu is 'Da 大 Hongni' (Hongni has Da Hongni and Xiao Hongni), that is bigger as particle, has more grits and appeared more reddish (as opposed to orange-ish).

Correct me if I'm wrong

It's 小.

Xiao Hongni is high-quality Hongni that has very smooth texture and no grit. Was favored by factory no.1

Da Hongni is mined from Zini ore bed, Huang Long mt. So it's basically Zini type, with porous nature.

And there is Zhuni, whose original ore is more yellow(more yellow turns more red after firing) than Xiao Hongni and shows more shrinkage.

My understanding is Xiao Hongni is mined from Zhao Zhuang mountain, less purified red clay than Zhuni.

Different characteritics over using, from I heard.

Xiao Hongni becomes glossy as time goes by (none-glossy at first)

Zhuni becomes redder and glossier as well.

Da Hongni turns darker like Zini(oxidation?)

Zhuni also has many types (Huang Long, Zhao Zhuang, Xiao Mei Yao, Hu Fu etc..)
I might start another thread sometime later, it's my favorite subject anyway.

As I understand it, shui ping has two meanings... one is that the top of the handle / tip of the spout / opening for the lid all line up across one plane. I'm not sure if it's required that the entire top of the spout be on the same plane or not. The other is that (as I understand it) '水平' also refers to a standard against which other things are measured (outside the realm of teapots).
http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/% … B3/1314271
Of course, biaozhun also means standard, but I think it means standard more in the sense of "normal" than in the sense of a standard against which other things are compared.
http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/% … 86/1300926

In common usage, though, I have mostly seen people use shui ping to refer that particular shape of pot.

Guang has his take on it here:
http://houdeblog.com/?p=11

Ah..I don't have a digital camera and my camera phone broke :(

It's nothing special anyway, has the same letter as 2nd pot of your first post but mine has smaller button and a bit flatten lid,

I think it's well-made for that period, I might post a pic of it as soon as I get a device..

Argh..I don't like the clay of this pot that much..not soft and brewed cup didn't turn any finer.

I think I read somewhere that exported goods were made of so-so clay but crafted carefully..

Would it be the reason? and don't believe me on this so much :(

Last edited by chrl42 (2009-08-22 07:25:18)

That pot obviously looks very similar to mine (I abandoned it for a while, but recently I decided to use for TGY)

Fashion of the pot obviously follows very closely to Factory-1, a shape, little lid's 'teeth' (very common on export-pot), horizental lines (typical Factory-1 half hand-made)

Problem is clay...it doesn't look like any Factory-1 Hongni I've seen before,

My guess is it contains iron oxide powder, to Lao Hongni (if lucky)

Maybe on future I might graps a little more ideas..