My Faux Nuts...Traditional Pottery from Yixing Zisha

Taking a break from weirdly named garden plants, I turned up these ceramic seeds on Ebay when I was cruising for seed ephemera. I had to buy them!!

There was no information with it that was correct and it took me awhile to turn up its source.  I finally did it as I matched the color of the clay to a teapot I found online that was from a region in China.  Then I found a teapot with applied nuts!

Using the source of the teapot as a more focusing search these came up quickly.

Yixing pottery history search.

They are naturalistic objects for the scholar's desk.  Small items to focus thought?  To bring luck?

My set is a revival of the original traditon, a relatively modern recreation from the same area as the originals.

 The water caltrop (the water buffalo head or bat shaped one) is a propitious reference as the the character Fú , 福,  meaning "good fortune" or "happiness" is represented both as a Chinese ideograph, but also at times pictorially, in one of its homophonous forms, most popularly as a bat.  I teach kids to fold little red origami bats around the New Year for this reason. A red bat is especially lucky because red,  红, has the same sound as vast, 宏. So a red bat means “vast fortune”.  

"The art of using objects of nature and incorporating them into Yixing wares was perfected by the great master potter of the 18 century Chen Mingyuan. His works of art was widely collected by the art connoisseurs of his time and examples of his Yixing wares can be seen in Chinese collections of museums worldwide. Copying the works of Chen Mingyuan continued after his death and into the 20 century. Jiang Rong, of the famous Rong family of potters of Yixing, was instrumental in reviving the art of making Yixing teapots after objects of nature. Under her guidance, young Yixing potters strive to perfect this art form. This set of 9 natural fruits, seeds and nuts is a fine example of the work done during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960's. The black bat like looking fruit is the water caltrop, a rhizome of the water lily family. The fruit with a long stem is also a water plant as is the water chestnut. The walnut, chestnut and gingko nut grow on trees, and the peanut on land. The pumpkin seed and gourd seed round up the presentation which carries all sorts of auspicious meanings of which fertility and good luck are the most important."  (This description was on a similar set for sale at Far East Asian Art. A photo is at the end of this page.)

 In the studio the scholar isolated himself from others, finding the calm necessary for study and contemplation. It was in the studio that he studied Confucian classics, wrote poetry, played music, practiced calligraphy, and perhaps painted. Objects important in the pursuit of these activities included writing utensils and desk accessories. There were also objects used for making and serving tea, a beverage thought to stimulate intellectual and social discourse. And there were decorative objects for the scholar as well. While these pieces appear to have either a utilitarian or decorative purpose, they also provided philosophical and moral inspiration through their symbolic content.  from McClure Museum Treasures of the Chinese Scholar show notes

The sunflower seed is nice.   Remember the contemporary art sunflower seeds?

This bat nut is an invasive weed in the United States according to a Washington State bulletin..  It fills the waterways with vegetation.

I always think of biofuel when I hear this.  Like the water hyacinth in Florida.  You could have your little methane plant like a farmer if you lived near enough to harvest the stuff.

The Chinese name is língjiǎo (菱角), líng meaning "caltrop" and jiǎo meaning "horn." This is often rendered as ling nut by English-speakers.

Wikipedia 

This is a typical book and box fastening.  They work very well.

 I have no clue what this says...but I assume it was made within the last 40 years.

Here is the real thing...by Chen Mingyuan at the Victoria and Albert.

The following pieces are in a wonderful box.  The starting bid at this auction was to be $1400.  

"The group includes a fruit basket filled with seventeen Zisha stoneware imitation nuts and vegetables, such as water chestnut, peanuts, lychee, eggplant, chestnut, walnut, and Cigu, molded with naturalistic forms and colors, some with artist mark "Ming Yuan"."

Now I know there were more species made than I have :-)  Look carefully at the peanut and notice the quality shown compared to my recent "revival" wares.

Here is another from Bonham's.

An Yixing stoneware 'fruit and nuts' group

Late Qing dynasty
Naturalistically modelled in the form of bat-fruit, walnut, peanut, chestnut, water chestnut and arrowhead, the clay of beige, brown and some tinted colours.

And another that sold for $3000 +-  

An Yixing stoneware 'fruit and nuts' group

Late Qing dynasty
The finely potted group naturalistically modelled in the form of bat-fruit, walnut, peanut, chestnut, water chestnut, sun-flower and watermelon seeds, arrowhead and nut, the clay of beige, brown and some pigmented colours, fitted box.

This lotus pod with froggie is new and available on Amazon.

Chinese Yixing Zisha Decoration Frog on Lotus Seed Head Delicate Mini Tea Pet

What the heck is a tea pet?

Far East Asian Art's set (sold)

The real water caltrop nut -

Many books quote a version of this sentence when describing the use of the water caltrop in India - "The Sinhara ( Trapa bicornis ) or water-chestnut, is of immeasurable benefit, such as food for the poor, that the Brahmins represent it to have been transplanted into the valley by Lakschimi, the wife of the god Vishnu."

Links:

• Scholarly piece - AN INTRODUCTION TO YIXING ZISHA STONEWARES by Jessica Harrison-Hall that has useful info if you want more.