This sort of ceramic teapot is truly "earthy" indeed. With a squat, chubby shape and a spout, handle, and lid all simple in the extreme, it would seem to have been made almost inadvertently. To the thinking of its creator, making a teapot that could be used was enough; he hadn't the inclination or the leisure to embellish it. Or if he had, it was at most to etch around it some dark lines of interlocked dragons.
In modern life, in accord with our high economic standards, teapots, like other items of daily use, come in a profuse variety of shapes and sizes to satisfy our material demands. Although exquisite iron, brass, tin, and ceramic teapots have appeared during the course of Taiwan's past, none reflects the connotations of life in the country so well as this simple, unrefined earthenware teapot.
Chiefly prevalent in farming villages, this kind of teapot was placed, especially during the agricultural busy season, in the shade of a tree at the field's edge, where it provided the farmers with thirst-quenching refreshment. Articles of daily use naturally accord with ways of life, and because agriculture requires a large expenditure of group physical labor, this type of teapot has a greater volume than most. Set it beside a dainty little teapot epitomizing affluence and leisure, and what appears are two intrinsically different attitudes toward life.
Hand-thrown on a potter's wheel, it still shows traces of uneven rotation. Its raison d'etre derives wholly from its basic functions of carrying and pouring water; it exists for a life of labor. If its plain form can still move us and produce an esthetic feeling in us today, this is a credit to the natural way of life from which it has arisen. Although it was produced for the sake of neither art nor beauty, that it can, through the simple, unadorned handiwork of the potter, give us a sense of beauty is also bound up with our feelings for life in the country.
The special characteristics of the earthenware teapot's form exist for basic practical ends, too. For example, the round handle is just big enough to be held by one hand; in no way is it too large nor has the degree of its curve been willfully exaggerated. The lid is just for covering. The knob on top is so small that it serves its original purpose of "being grasped" and no more. The spout is short and stubby. And the pot has no corners, edges, or superfluous portions, to avoid being easily damaged when struck. It really does suit its basic utilitarian functions!
The teapot in the picture is a modern product of Shuili Village in Nantou County, of a type said to be popular with teahouses seeking a rustic effect. Earthenware teapots, which have been replaced by modern products, still possess charm today. This natural form rooted in the life of the people and gradually tempered through time will, I think, continue to offer attractive esthetic features in the future as it does today.
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