red ware is a kind of pottery that made from special pottery clay. It is only produced in Yixing, Jiangsu province. That is why Yixing has the high reputation of “Pottery Capital”. The red ware clay has various colors like purple, green, red because it is abundant in iron and silicon, etc. But it always becomes mauve after firing, so it is called “ red ware”. red ware appeared in Tang and Song Dynasty, prevailed in Ming and Qing Dynasty, now it is still very popular.

In 1976, some fragments of Song Dynasty red ware were unearthed at Ancient Dragon kiln, Yingxing, Jiangsu province. After a research of these fragments, people found that the red ware at that time had become very mature and its origin period should be earlier. According to historical data, the origin period of red ware is earlier than the North Song Dynasty.

Pottery was one of the necessary daily articles in the primitive society, but it was gradually replaced by porcelain. Although Sancai pottery appeared and prevailed in Tang Dynasty, it was only a fleeting show and not widespread. As a kind of pottery, it is a miracle that red ware could exist and prevail till now. This is closely relevant to the development of Chinese tea sets, the feature of red ware itself and the cultural fashion of that time.

As everyone knows, tea originated in China, used as a kind of medicine at first. Drinking tea had become people’s daily custom in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Naturally, drinking tea need tea sets. People use different tea set due to different drinking tea custom, different places and different period. Some vessels had been used as Drinking tea vessels like Ding, boiler, bottle, Zhan and pot, but they are not the special vessels. In Ming Dynasty came the special tea set----teapot.

Located near Tai lake, where there has hilly fertile land and humid weather, Yixing is very fit for cultivating tea, so it is a famous producing tea region from of old. Furthermore, Its “Yangxian Tea” was highly regarded as tribute. Now that drinking tea custom is very popular in Yixing, tea set is naturally popular. The red ware teapot produced in Yinxing is much better than any other teapot in luster, water absorption capability, ventilation capability and strength. This is why red ware teapot was taken as special tea set.

The further prosperity of red ware still benefits from the trend of “Current art collection”. In the later Ming Dynasty, people collected not only antiques but also current art. red ware teapot was one kind of collection. Affected by the trend, the shape and decoration of red ware teapot became more exquisite and elegant. Its simple and natural style also won favor of literators. red ware teapot was not only a kind of useful tea set but also a kind of cultural art.