...who valued the elegant and refined form of tea-drinking vessels. The great Jiangnan scholar Chen Jiru and his contemporaries belonged to this circle. Shi Dabin traveled with his craft and befriended Chen Jiru (styled Meigong) and others. His teapot-making evolved from "initially imitating Gong Chun with success, favoring large pots," to later, "after traveling to Loudong and hearing Chen Meigong, Lang Ban, and the gentlemen of Taiyuan discuss tea tasting and tea testing, he began making small pots. Having one on a desk evokes thoughts of leisure and distance" (*Yangxian Minghu Xi*). As a master of his generation, Shi Dabin differed from ordinary craftsmen-artisans; he was an artist of refined cultivation. According to records, "when inscribing pots, he initially hired skilled calligraphers to write in ink, then carved with a bamboo knife, or used seal marks. Later he wielded the knife to form characters himself; his calligraphy was elegant and refined, comparable to the *Huangting* and *Yueyi* styles" (*Yangxian Mingtao Lu*). Judging from surviving pieces, Shi Dabin's calligraphy was leisurely and elegant, carved with bamboo knife, quite worthy of contemplation. The various types he created can also be called simple, elegant, firm, and solid, possessing the manner of a great master. Shi Dabin's shift from making large pots to small ones, and his practice of inscribing poems on pots, had much to do with the participation of Chen Jiru and other literati, scholars, and painters. Shi Dabin's disciple Xu Youquan (1573-1620), styled Shiying, also maintained close friendship with Chen Meigong. Chen Meigong renamed him, changing the character "Quan" to "Ku," and also inscribed pot inscriptions for him. The famous scholar and famous craftsman were called a "double excellence" at the time. Therefore, whether from the perspective of the development of Yixing pottery or from the history of literati and pottery art, the interactions between Shi Dabin and his disciples with Chen Jiru and other literati held great significance, and can be said to mark the true beginning of literati participation in pottery art. The transition from Ming to Qing was an unstable period of social change. Scholar life was at a low ebb, and pottery art development also fell silent for a time. Not until the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong reigns did pottery art regain its brilliance. These three reigns can be called the golden age of the Qing dynasty; stable social life made the combination of literati and pottery art possible once again. Famous pottery masters of the mid-Kangxi period included Chen Mingyuan and Hui Mengchen, and by the Qianlong period there was Shao Yuting and others. Among them, the most outstanding was undoubtedly Chen Mingyuan (dates unknown). Judging from Chen Mingyuan's surviving works, his pieces were completely free of craftsman's vulgarity, truly possessing both skill and artistry. The calligraphic signatures and inscriptions on surviving pieces show upright, vigorous, and elegant technique, with refined and harmonious poetic inscriptions, revealing artistic interest. This indicates that Chen Mingyuan was an artist of deep cultivation who possessed literati temperament. At this time, after the Qing troops entered the pass, literati flocked southward, gathering in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Wu and Yue had always been lands of flourishing culture; moreover, Zhejiang's abundant tea production and thriving tea culture provided fertile soil once again for the combination of scholars and pottery art that had begun in the late Ming. According to historical records, Chen Mingyuan associated with literati, often visiting Haiyan, staying at the Zhang family's Sheyuan, and at the homes of Wang Sen and the Ke brothers in Tongxiang. Among his friends were also Ma Sizan and Cao Lianrang of Haining, and especially Yang Zhongshu (styled Wan...