Return of the Dragon aka Ben Shan Lv Ni Dragon Egg

A recreation of the famous 1960s Factory 1 Ben Shan Lv Ni Dragon Egg. We are excited to make this teapot available, read below why!

The clay

Ben Shan Lv Ni stands out among Yixing ores: it is prized for its elegant texture and for the beautiful patina it develops. Due to its popularity, lesser varieties of Lv Ni are often marketed as Ben Shan Lv Ni. Genuine Ben Shan Lv Ni is typically reserved for fully handmade teapots – it took us a long time to find  a craftsman willing to use Ben Shan Lv Ni to make half handmade teapots. Then, we needed to find a batch of Ben Shan Lv Ni that satisfied our standards. This projects is five years in the making. As is always the case for our modern Yixing teapots, the clay composition is EDXRF tested.

The shape

Many classic Yixing shapes are relatively recent. For example, the Shuiping has its origins in the late Qing dynasty, and the Shipiao in the mid Qing dynasty at the time of Chen Mansheng. The Dragon Egg is older: it dates back to some of the earliest teapots, in the Ming dynasty. The Dragon Egg shape has transformed over time: the Ming version typically had a cannon spout and a pointy lid knob, but several other interpretations were introduced over time. In the 1960s, Yixing Factory 1 produced a small half-handmade Ben Shan Lv Ni Dragon Egg – a rare production that easily fetches $2,000 on the rare occasions it becomes available on auction. We commissioned our Ben Shan Lv Ni Dragon Egg based on Factory 1 exemplars: with a rounder lid knob and a straight pointy spout, as well as similar detailing of the teapot’s base.

We are very fond of this one, we hope you enjoy it!

Capacity: 100ml

Weight: 93g

Pour speed: 8 seconds