Sourced by Michael Zhan in Yixing
In late autumn, Michael Zhan took a detour from his usual procurement runs through Yunnan and Fujian. He travelled east to Yixing, not for teapots, but for tea pets — the small clay companions that live on the gongfu tray. At a family workshop on the outskirts of Dingshu town, he found a master who works exclusively with zhuni ore from the Xiaomeiyao mine. The clay is notoriously difficult to shape; its high iron content makes it shrink unevenly during firing, and only a fraction of each kiln load survives.
Michael spent an afternoon watching the potter’s thumbs press pixiu forms into being — each one a hand-sculpted original, not moulded. He selected this particular pixiu because of the taut line of its spine and the alert lift of its head, as if it might pounce into a new tea session. The signature was pressed into the belly before the final firing, a practice the family has kept for three generations.
Zhuni red yields an especially vivid patina. Unlike the more porous zini, it takes colour slowly, rewarding patience. Michael brought back eight pixiu from that batch — each numbered, photographed, and stored in a linen pouch until it reaches a tray. He says the best time to acquire a tea pet is before it has any history; the first tea you pour over it becomes the foundation of a decade-long conversation.