Xishi Yixing Teapot (西施宜興壺, Xī Shī Yíxìng Hú, "Xishi Yixing Teapot") - This diminutive Yixing teapot weighs in at just 110 milliliters, making it perfect for solo and intimate tea sessions, as well as for tasting very rare or expensive teas. Such rounded pots are known as Xishi Pots after the ancient Chinese beauty, spy, and revolutionary of the same name, one of the 4 Beauties of classical China (and, incidentally, the daughter of a tea merchant). Her beauty was said to be such that fish would forget how to swim upon seeing her and sink to the bottom of the lake, and that birds would fall out of the sky. The Xishi Pot, one of the most celebrated Yixing pot shapes, is said to resemble her breast.
This pot is made from Hóngní (红泥, "Red Clay"), a less expensive alternative to the now-rare and commercially limited Zhūní (朱泥, "Crimson Clay"). Like Zhuni and the other Yixing clays, Hongni will absorb the flavor of teas made in it, gradually developing a patina that enhances the character of the tea. As such, these pots are traditionally dedicated to a single type or category of tea, for example red teas or oolongs. With consistent use, the pot will continue to develop a patina and increase in value and depth.