The story of Shanghai's famous Teapot collector and purple clay artisan, Xu Sihai, and his decades-long obsession with teapot collection is a popular topic. His first foray into collecting purple clay teapots dates back to the 1970s. Once, at a flea market, he spotted an old purple clay teapot. It was a large, antique-style pot made of purple clay, with a shiny, smooth surface, indicating it had some age. On one side of the pot were two lines of poetry: “When guests visit on a cold night, Tea serves as wine; the bamboo stove boils water as the fire turns red.” On the other side was an engraving of an elderly man leisurely reading and brewing tea under a tree. Upon flipping the pot over and examining the seal on the bottom, it appeared to be a fine piece from the Yongzheng era of the Qing dynasty.
Xu Sihai asked the vendor how much it cost. The vendor quoted a price of 500 yuan. This amount was quite staggering at the time, as a worker's monthly salary was only around forty to fifty yuan. Xu Sihai searched all his pockets and could only muster up a little more than two hundred yuan. He then took off his newly purchased Titus watch and said, “Here, take this. Is it enough?” The vendor still refused and slowly lit a cigarette. Those in the second-hand goods business are incredibly shrewd; the more eager you appear, the more they hold out, waiting for you to give in. Indeed, Xu Sihai took off his military uniform and threw it on the ground, then removed a new sweater his wife had knit for him and said, “Look closely, it's pure wool.” Only then was the vendor moved, saying, “Since you're so sincere, I should help you out. Take the teapot, but I won't accept the sweater.”
The story behind a Huafengxiang cloisonné Han-style square teapot in Xu Sihai's collection is also highly legendary. When Xu Sihai bought this Huafengxiang Han-style square teapot at a flea market many years ago, it was missing its lid. He went home and found a similarly sized lid to use as a replacement. A few years later, an antique dealer from another region visited Xu Sihai's home and pulled out several old teapots from a cardboard box for Xu to choose from. Xu immediately recognized one of the Han-style square teapots; it was cloisonné-decorated, with geometric patterns and landscapes in the center, typical of Qing dynasty teapots. However, while the body of the pot had a blue base color, the lid was a bright green.
Upon closer inspection, Xu Sihai realized what had happened and nonchalantly bought all the teapots the dealer had brought. Once the dealer left, he retrieved the Han-style square teapot he had purchased years earlier from his antique cabinet and tried fitting the green lid onto it. It fit perfectly, not only in size but also in pattern, brushwork, and glaze, confirming that the lid and body had been reunited after being separated for many years. Such a miracle is extremely rare among collectors, both past and present, suggesting that there was destiny involved in Xu Sihai's connection with the teapot.
Among Xu Sihai's collection of purple clay teapots, the most valuable is a Duozhi teapot made by Qing dynasty artisan Shao Daheng. In terms of appearance, it is plump and majestic, achieving the ancient ideal of “a touch more would be too fat, a touch less too thin,” from every perspective of proportion, shape, and balance. The surface patina is as smooth and warm as an old jade that has been polished for decades, evoking a sense of tranquility. Tapping the lid lightly against the body produces a clear metallic sound that resonates crisply and deeply.
This particular purple clay teapot was originally crafted by Shao Daheng as a family heirloom for the Pan family of Yixing. By the third generation, a descendant of the Pan family had gone to study at a university in Northeast China and was wrongly labeled as a rightist in the 1950s. Before being sent to a labor reform camp, the family traveled thousands of miles to bring him over a dozen ancestral purple clay teapots, which he could sell in times of need. Unfortunately, twenty years of hardship had driven him mad. When policies were rectified in the 1980s, this unfortunate soul returned home with the last teapot wrapped in his bedding, which turned out to be the Shao Daheng teapot. Later, the Pan family needed money to build a house and decided to sell the Shao Daheng teapot.
Upon hearing the news, Xu Sihai, who was involved in establishing the Yixing Purple Clay Artisan Factory, rushed to the Pan family's home to see the precious teapot. After just one glance, he was determined to add it to his collection and urged his wife, Jin Pingzhen, to quickly raise 30,000 yuan. This sum was no small matter in the 1980s, but Jin Pingzhen knew her husband's resolute nature and managed to gather the funds overnight.
With the 30,000 yuan in hand, Xu Sihai returned to the Pan family's home, only to find that they had changed their minds. He began visiting them frequently, even sending them paintings by famous artists every few days. After more than half a year of persistence, he finally moved the heavens and acquired the teapot as desired. It was close; on the day Xu Sihai carried the precious teapot out of the Pan family's door, a Hong Kong businessman arrived, willing to pay a higher price, but it was too late.
On more than one occasion, people knocked on the door of Xu Sihai's teapot pavilion, offering substantial sums to buy the teapot, with some even offering HK$16 million. Xu Sihai remained unmoved, his heart like still water.
Xu Sihai once told me, “The Shao Daheng teapot is my museum's prized possession, and I will never sell it. Not for HK$16 million, not even ten times that amount. This teapot is no longer just part of my personal collection; it is a treasure belonging to the Chinese nation. If it were to leave the country from my hands, I would be a sinner against my people.”