A Yixing workshop discovery
I found this foo lion in an old alley workshop in Dingshu, Yixing, just after the Qingming festival in 2025. The master carver, a third-generation zisha artisan, rarely makes water-spitters — he’s known for teapots — but each winter he sculpts a handful of chachong for a local temple fair. This lion was the largest of the series, meant to anchor a formal tea tray. I spent two afternoons testing a dozen spitters with him: we poured hot water from a porcelain kettle, listening to the pitch of the trickle, checking that the stream arched cleanly without dripping. This one had the most consistent, musical voice.
The clay is a proprietary dark zisha blend he calls ‘moon-belly purple’ (月光紫), full of iron and quartz, giving the piece pleasant heft and a faint sparkle when dry. It’s coiled, not carved from a block — a technique that yields a hollow, resonant body that cools water quickly inside. The lion sits in the classic guardian posture: front paws straight, chest puffed, mouth slightly agape for the spout. The mane was incised with bamboo tools, each curl a single confident stroke.
Every figure from this workshop comes with a tiny, unglazed ceramic chip bearing the maker’s stamp. When you soak it alongside the pet, the chip ages at the same rate — a kind of authentication token for the patina journey. Michael Zhan, procurement report #DZS-SP47.