Historical and Physical Realities

Zisha as a material influenced Zisha as an art. The material properties of zisha clay limited the potential utilitarian forms of Yixing wares and their method of construction. Zisha as an art-form and art-product could never have been wheel-turned, low-fired, or mass-produced from slurry-molds[1] – the clay itself limited the range of possible outcomes for the culture to incubate.