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(Cameron Lewis) wrote in message om>...
> I have heard from a number of sources that zhuni clay is either
> unattainable or extremely rare and that anyone purporting to sell
> zhuni pots is probably a liar. I have, however, seen many pots that
> are supposedly zhuni and even own one. As I understand it the
> identifying marks for zhuni are a deep orange red colour, wrinkly
> orange peel or pear-skin texture, and a very high ring tone.
>
> My pot which was made by Zhou Jian Hua wasn't sold to me as zhuni,
> though it has all of the characteristics listed above. I bought the
> pot from Michael Ryan who has quite a number of pots for sale which he
> says are zhuni. Furthermore, Michael is far from the only retailer
> selling zhuni wares. Considering that these pots aren't exorbitantly
> expensive, can anyone reconcile this with the common assertion that
> zhuni is extinct?
>
> BTW, true zhuni or not, the pot is very good.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Cameron

i m not a subject matter expert on this, as i m not a pot collector,
but in my process of collecting pu-erh teas etc, i've came across many
articles on this tea pots.

Zhu Ni, the zhu is akin to the zhu in zhu sha (the fine red paste
which the chinese formerly used as a form of ink paste (pad) for their
stamps/chops.

any clay as fine as that can be called zhu-ni too.

from what i know, yixing zhu ni pots are not produceable anymore due
to the absence of such clay sources.there are many zhu-ni pots around,
made the same way as of zhu ni pots, but not the real yixing zhu ni
pots.

Quite a lot of taiwanese tea pots are made of zhu ni-like materials.

Originally in the past, people would stir a lot of clay in water and
collect the fine suspension in the water after filtering.

Repeated filtering etc resulted in a very fine clay which when fired,
becomes very smooth, thin and has a very bright ring tone.

i have three such pots in use currently, only one is from china, the
other two are from taiwan, made of clay similar to zhu-ni clays, very
fine, but not the real yixing materials.

very good pots, retains heat well, looks good. but i still prefer the
coarser yi-xings some how =)