Yixing teapot?

[Lacto]

Hello folks,

Please can someone advise me if this teapot is really made by the celebrated Jiang Rong? I have a feeling it is not but the chop mark seems to be similar to hers. If I can I will include all the marks.

[Hmm]

I can tell you that the color of this teapot is unnatural and likely used artificial chemicals to achieve it, and is not of yixing or chaozhou origins.

[Lacto]

Thank you Hmm,

I was told this colour was a twentieth century innovation based upon a mixture of the three original colours plus an additional chemical or chemicals that was called Military Green. So does that also mean that this teapot is simply a modern  ceramic piece made for the tourist market and has nothing to do with Yixing or Jiang Ring?

Please be aware that the photographs are not the true colours of this piece.

[peterp]

There were some greenish Yixing stoneware wares for a long time, but somehow this has a tint that indeed looks strange, as Hmm already stated. I would advise not to use it. Yixing clay mining sites have been near depletion about twenty or so years ago. Some there in Yixing apparently resorted to mixing other clays to attain a similar look, but those items were said to have contained toxic substances.
This said, it seems that a similar type of clay as the original in Yixing is now mined in the north, so the problem of missing clay could be resolved by now. Still, I would be careful. It is not quite clear what is now made where. The exterior green and the interior look different. Outside it looks more like a glaze, but still, just be careful.

[Lacto]

Thank you Peter,

I appreciate your concern - I was infact going to make some tea in this pot but having been warned by both you and Hmm I will refrain.

I was informed, when I bought the pot with six cups and plates, that it was purchased in 1985 or thereabouts from the Purple Clay Teapot Museum in Wuxi as a limited edition commissioned solely for the museum.

Also, I have found similar marks attributed to Jiang Rong! Could these be similar but not the same marks - or is it just a fake? And the other marks - surely someone on this forum should be able to reveal what they are? Another forum has clarified one mark which is 中國官窰 and according to Google translate literally means "middle (or within) China official kiln" - so could that be "made at the Chinese official kiln" and could that be the number 1 or 2 Factory in Yixing?

[peterp]

I'm afraid I cannot help much with Yixing wares, as this is not considered porcelain and usually is in the domain collectors specialized on such tea wares.
What concern the mark you mention, it indeed means 'China official kiln)...never heard that before. To me this sounds phoney.
In imperial times "official kiln" was the imperial kiln, the one making ceramics for the court.

(Also, please note that it should be either 中國官窯 or 中囯官窰, the first being all traditional characters, the second all simplified characters, no a mix. Current PRC China would use the latter, whereas the 2nd character is different from what you mentioned.)