From a small Dingshan workshop to your tea tray
During a sourcing trip to Yixing in autumn, Michael Zhan followed an unpaved road to the edge of Dingshan town. There, in a workshop barely larger than a tea house, a master who prefers to remain unnamed was shaping zhuni tortoises from ore he’d collected decades ago at Huanglongshan. The clay was so fine it looked like dried apple skin in its raw state. Michael watched as the master pressed the shell dome onto a hand-turned wooden mould, then spent two more hours detailing the head and legs with a bamboo knife. Each tortoise is wood-fired in a traditional dragon kiln at low, slow temperatures that bring out the clay’s characteristic warm orange blush. The turtle — guī (龟) — is an old symbol of longevity and steadiness, and placing one on your tea tray is a quiet wish for long life and many quiet sessions ahead. Michael selected a small batch to bring back; each piece carries a lightly carved seal on the belly, tracing it back to that rainy October afternoon in Dingshan. Because zhuni is so porous, the tortoise will quickly develop a patina that mirrors the teas you drink. After a year of daily gongfu, it will tell a story no other piece can.