A CHINESE YIXING ZISHA TEAPOT AND COVER.

Qing Dynasty, 18th/19th Century, signed Han Zhen.

The cylindrical body incised with a calligraphic inscription Ban S Z F and signed Han Zhen, the loop handle opposite an S-shaped handle, the cover with a cylindrical finial carved and pierced to the top with two coiled qi dragons one with a spray of lingzhi fungus held in the mouth, the interior of the cover with impressed Han Zhen mark, 14cm H, 13cm diameter. (2)

Provenance: an English private collection, acquired in London in 1992.

清十八 / 十九世紀   宜興茶蓋壺，「伴山水之父人」、「渼珍」款

Han Zhen teapots are generally enamelled such as the example in Patrice Valfré, Yixing: Teapots for Europe, 2000, p 240, cat no 321, and an example including Han Zhen’s calligraphy is extremely rare and appears to be unrecorded. For a Fang Henlu teapot of similar shape and with a similar see David Howard and John Ayres, China for the West: Chinese Porcelain & other Decorative Arts for Export illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, 1978, cat no 86.