Sourced by Michael Zhan in Dingshu Town, Yixing
In October 2024, Michael Zhan visited a small family workshop in Dingshu, the heart of Yixing’s zisha tradition. The third-generation sculptor — known locally for his Laughing Buddha series — works only with old, single-source purple clay dug from a single deposit near Huanglong Mountain. Each figurine is sculpted in one sitting: the master works the clay while it stays moist, carving the drapery lines and the smile with bamboo tools. Michael chose this batch after examining over forty pieces, rejecting any with sharp edges or uneven firing. The dark zisha was selected for its dramatic colour change during tea usage — a detail serious collectors track across years. The workshop hand-signs every piece under the base, and each arrives with a small authentication card describing the clay batch and firing date. This is slow, seasonal production — no two Buddhas are identical. The stock you see here is the entirety of what Michael could secure after a two-day negotiation over tea and lychee fruit.