Tian Chengtai Bowl

Name: Tian Chengtai Bowl
Brand: Tian Chengtai
SKU: P-TCB1-A-1565-S
Price: 1650.0 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

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Tian Chengtai's wood-fired bowls are made from local Miaoli mountain clay. Each is thrown and trimmed in a single session, allowed to find its own natural form on the wheel, and fired over three days and nights at temperatures above 1,250°C. The only glaze is the ash of driftwood Master Tian collects himself, leaving a surface that is entirely the work of earth, fire and chance.

This bowl is made for tea. It fits the hands and lips with a naturalness that is difficult to describe and easy to feel, and has a remarkable effect on Taiwanese teas in particular, opening and softening the liquor in a way that deepens with every session. No two pieces are alike, and each bears the marks of the kiln as a record of its own making. Master Tian holds his work to an exacting standard, and only a small number of pieces from each firing are offered. These are bowls meant to be used, returned to and grown into over a lifetime of tea.

The Artisan

Tian Chengtai

Taiwan

Tian Chengtai (田承泰) was born in 1952 in Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County, a place of mountains, rivers, and quiet rural life that has remained the source and home of his work. He came to pottery late, beginning at the age of forty after years of trying his hand at business in the city. Returning home to Miaoli, he built a wood-fire kiln and spent six years making wares without selling a single piece. He works exclusively with local Miaoli mountain clay, throwing and trimming each bowl in a single unbroken session, and fires his pieces over three days and nights using only the ash of collected driftwood as glaze. Of the roughly three hundred pieces in each firing, he considers thirty a success, and those that fall short are smashed without hesitation.

His bowls fit naturally to the hands and lips, opening the energy of Taiwanese teas in a way that feels inseparable from the island's own soil. He has always reminded collectors that his bowls are made to be used, not admired on a shelf.

See all work by Tian Chengtai