The late renowned painter Mr. Tang Yun, not only excelled in painting but was also a famous expert in cultural relics appraisal at home and abroad. Before his passing, he was a member of the National Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee. He had a particular fondness for Yixing purple clay Teapots and owned more than ten of the famous “Mansheng Teapots,” with both the quantity and quality of his collection unparalleled in the world.
The actual number of surviving “Mansheng Teapots” may not be very scarce, for two reasons: firstly, they were made during the relatively recent Qing Dynasty period of Qianlong and Jiaqing; secondly, the original production quantity was large, numbering in the thousands. However, those we can see today are extremely rare. I recently went through auction catalogs from major Beijing auction houses over the past few years and did not find a single “Mansheng Teapot,” which is quite puzzling. Perhaps it's because collectors cherish them as treasures and are unwilling to part with them.
The so-called “Mansheng Teapot” originated with Chen Hongshou (1768-1822), known by his pen name Mansheng, a famous scholar from Qiantang, Zhejiang, who lived during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty. Alongside Huang Yi and Zhao Zhichen, he was one of the “Eight Masters of Xiling.” He was proficient in literature, painting, calligraphy, and seal carving, and his talents surpassed those of ordinary people. He served as the county magistrate of Yixing for three years and found the pottery workers' labor scenes fascinating, which led to his love for purple clay teapots. At that time, the most famous teapot makers in Yixing were the three siblings Yang Pengnian, Yang Baonian, and Yang Fengnian. Chen Hongshou personally designed eighteen teapot styles and collaborated with the Yang family to create the well-known “Mansheng Teapot.”
The “Mansheng Teapots” we can appreciate today generally bear the seal of “Amanyu Shi” on the bottom and the seal of “Pengnian” under the handle. This cannot be seen solely as the work of Chen Hongshou and Yang Pengnian. In fact, besides Mansheng himself, many of his friends like Jiang Tingxiang, Guo Pingjia, Gao Shuangquan, and Zha Meishi contributed inscriptions to the “Mansheng Teapots.” The makers were not limited to the three siblings of the Yang family. The creative team behind the “Mansheng Teapots” was actually led by Chen Mansheng and consisted of scholars, collectors, and potters working together in an interest group dedicated to the art of purple clay teapots. This method of scholars participating in the making of purple clay teapots appeared as early as the late Ming Dynasty, and the custom of combining poetry, painting, calligraphy, and seals with teapots was indeed pioneered and promoted by Chen Mansheng, whose influence continues to this day.
A renowned collector in Hong Kong has a “Mansheng Teapot” with the inscription “The first thousand three hundred and seventy-ninth teapot recognized by Pinguo,” now housed in the Tea Ware Museum of Hong Kong. A “Mansheng Teapot” recorded in “Yangxian Sand Teapot Illustrations” bears the text “The fourth thousand six hundred and fourteenth teapot supervised by Mansheng” on its body, currently in the Shanghai Museum. From these physical examples, it is clear that the potters involved in making the “Mansheng Teapots” were not limited to the three siblings of the Yang family. In 1977, a “Mansheng Teapot” was unearthed in Wang Dian's tomb in Songyin Commune, Jinshan County, Shanghai, with eight characters in gold script carved on its body, “Made by Shan Wusheng for Yangdou to use,” and the seal of “Mansheng” in regular script, as well as the seal of the potter's name “Wanquan” inside the lid, providing further evidence.
The craftsmanship of the “Mansheng Teapots” is superb, with elegant and refined shapes that never tire the eye, and their inscriptions are even more refined, with beautiful language that is intriguing. The inscriptions on several “Mansheng Teapots” in Mr. Tang Yun's collection include: “Waiting for the sun to set, tea quenches thirst, these two are one, my Buddha says nothing”; “The well is not deep, the bottle is not small, take a Drink, always good”; “Boil white stones, float green clouds, sip slowly inviting the sage”; “Not fat but firm, thus long-lasting,” etc. The Nanjing Museum houses a flat “Mansheng Teapot” with the inscription “Stopping flowing water with a peaceful heart.” These inscriptions seem to contain profound meanings in their subtle words, offering infinite room for imagination.
The reason why the “Mansheng Teapot” enjoys such a high reputation is not only due to its origin from a famous hand and the combination of poetry, painting, calligraphy, and seals, which carry deep cultural connotations, but also because it organically integrates various arts, elevating the art of purple clay teapots to a state of perfection, leaving later generations in awe.
Chen Hongshou originally designed eighteen teapot styles, but it is now difficult to verify the details. The existing “Three Yuan Style Gallbladder Teapot” is believed to be a copy of one of the eighteen styles by the famous Qing Dynasty craftsman Shao Youlan. Its most prominent feature is the internal gallbladder for holding tea leaves, which is scientifically designed. From this, we can infer that the design of the “Mansheng Teapot” was not conservative at the time.