Essence in Zisha: Eastern Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yixing Stoneware

FEB 17, 2018 - MAY 31, 2018

On February 17, 2018 Poly Culture Art Center opened the “Essence in Zisha: Eastern Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yixing Stoneware” exhibition. The exhibition was organized by Poly Culture Group Corporation Limited and the Yixing People’s Government; and co-organized by Poly Culture North America Investment Corporation, Beijing Poly Art Centre Co., Ltd, Yixing County Ceramics Association and the Dingshu Town People’s Government. As part of the exhibition, we have invited several masters of Chinese arts and crafts as well as masters of Chinese ceramic art along with the Jiangsu provincial masters of arts and crafts as critics. The exhibition features over 300 zisha pieces crafted by nearly 200 contemporary zisha artists from Yixing, Jiangsu Province and showcases the unique aesthetics of contemporary Chinese zisha artwork.

Zisha culture is unique to the East and serves a significant role in traditional Chinese culture. On the subject of tea appreciation, it is often stated that the water functions as the mother and that the tea apparatus functions as the father. Although there are numerous ways of consuming tea over the ages, there have always been particularities about the preparation of tea and the wares used in the process. Zisha from the Yixing region is of superior quality due to the texture and quality of Yixing’s zisha material. From the special physical structure, the teapot’s water absorption and porosity rate are considerably high after firing of the ware. When used in preparing tea, it results in pleasant colour, smell, and taste of the tea, making zisha stoneware the best choice in tea preparation and an authoritative apparatus for cultural exchange. Zisha stoneware has been objects of cultural exchange with Europe from as early as 1620 and the teapots opened an avenue for cultural exchange between the East and the West. In 2018, zisha stoneware is once again stepping outside of China and into the world. This exhibition is significant in that it features an unprecedented number of high-quality famous contemporary zisha on display in North America. The exhibition hopes to expand the international influence of famous contemporary zisha works. Among the participating artists in this exhibition, many are outstanding pieces part of collections by well-known overseas museums such as the British Museum, the Guimet Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in Germany, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.