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I believe this teapot is not actually meant for pouring tea, it's heavy, but it's quite an eye-catching decoration. It is 15" tall. Could someone transcribe the hangi? Thanks.

This is a modern version of a "Tiliang" (提梁) or "Basket Handle" teapot with an apocryphal mark of "Made during the Longqing Reign of the Great Ming Dynasty". Lacking any other markings, Your pot may have been produced in Mainland China or at one of the porcelain-decorating factories in Hong Kong, Macao or another special economic zone. Tiliang teapots in the Ming style but with a shorter, stouter profile are signature products of Taiwan kilns on the island of Jinmen (also called Quemoy). Here's a photo of one about 12.5 inches high at the handle. Also a shot of its base-mark.

Best regards,

Bill H.

Bill H. I have one exactly like what you posted but the marking is a little different. I've been trying to find something like it for awhile now. Is it worth anything? any info is greatly appreciated.

I was in Taiwan 40 years ago, at a time when everyone seemed to own one of these teapots and bragged about how much they were worth on the USA Mainland at that time. Before I departed Taiwan, I drove down-island to Kaohsiung to a shop that specialized in Kinmen ceramics, where I bought the one teapot, as well as a moonflask in a Ming Yongle pattern for what I think came to an NT$ total worth about US$200. The auction link herewith shows a teapot like ours, which the description calls a "Taiwan Matsu" pot, though it has the Kinmen mark. This piece sold in the U.S. auction last year for $150 against an estimate of $200-400.

I also have a pair of similar teapots with Kinmen marks that differ from what's on either of our pots. Both pots, which apparently are made of crackle glaze stoneware, were bought at a local estate sale a couple of years ago for about $40 apiece (one has a hairline around the base of the joint at one end of its handle).

I'm sure the hard-paste porcelain pots were worth a lot more Stateside than I paid in 1977 in Taiwan, because the Kinmen kiln was said at the time to be supplying museums around the world with authorized reproduction porcelains copied from the Taipei Palace Museum collection. I didn't have the internet to find out if this was true or not, but it mattered little a year later, when Mainland China and the USA normalized relations. In short order, Kinmen had massive competition for repro porcelains of all kinds. Still, the crackle-glazed version doesn't begin to compare with the looks of the hard-paste pot unless you stand back and squint from about 20 or 30 feet. In my opinion, you still have one of the better museum-quality repros in the world if your teapot is hard-paste and not the crackle-glaze.

Best regards,

Bill H.



URL Title :Kinmen Teapot

you are right, this modern and for decorative purposes, the characters are 大明隆慶年製， "made during the Longqing reign of the Great Ming". The Longqing emperor ruled from 1567-1572

Thanks, rat. It's interesting to know something about the original from which this was copied.

Yes, Bill H, it's from Macao. I never knew the characters underneath referred to the "original" from the Ming Dynasty and that the handle was a "basket handle." Thanks for the information. The color of the pot I posted is really off. When I saw the color of yours, I realized mine is also much more blue. I have to be more careful with the colors when I take pictures.

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