Fans of Chinese tea art and tea sets now have a rare chance to see some of the best works by legendary teapot-making artists in Beijing at the largest ever exhibition of Yixing pottery art being held at National Art Museum of China.

Visitors watching the pots [China Daily]

On display are 216 sets of zisha (purple clay) teapots, celadon wares, and Jun-glaze porcelain by over 100 master craftsmen from Yixing, Jiangsu province.

Highlights are 20 zisha teapots created by masters of Ming and Qing dynasties, and about 40 top-quality zisha works by 20th century masters including Ren Ganting, Wu Yungen, Gu Jingzhou, Lu Yaocheng and Wang Yinxian.

"Apart from the traditional style zisha teapots, visitors may also find lovely pottery figures, fancy table sets and hanging sets of pottery art from the younger generation of artists", says Hong Ya, Yixing vice mayor and a key organizer of the exhibition.

Yixing is one of most important pottery and ceramic production bases in ancient China and is believed to have a history of over 7,000 years of pottery-making.

The making of zisha teapot appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty and matured in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

However, "zisha art is seeing its heyday only in the 21st century with traditional skills being preserved, new technologies applied, and a great variety of zisha works being produced," says zisha teapot master Zhang Shouzhi.

According to Yixing Zisha Industry Association director Shi Juntang, over 20,000 people in Yixing have been engaged in zisha production and at least 60,000 people are working in the pottery and porcelain sectors, contributing about 8 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion) in revenue every year.

Time: 9am-5pm, June12-23

Venue: National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Beijing

Tel:8610-6401-7076

(China Daily June 19, 2009)