Gu Jingzhou and Xu Xiudang Purple clay renowned pottery has a long history. It has always been celebrated for its exquisite craftsmanship, elegant and dignified forms, abundant varieties, perfect shapes, lustrous and refined colors, and practical value. Among the pottery classifications of our great motherland, it stands uniquely distinguished and is famous both at home and abroad. ## (I) Regarding the origins of purple clay craft pottery, historical miscellaneous writings trace it back to the Northern Song Dynasty. For example, in Mei Yaochen's *Wanling Collection*, Volume 15, the poem "Following the Previous Rhyme in Response to Minister Du's Thanks for the Gift of Tea" contains the lines: "Small stones and cold springs preserve the early flavor, purple clay new wares float with spring's splendor." Volume 35, "Replying to Zhang, Magistrate of Xuancheng, Who Sent Ya Mountain Tea, Matching His Rhyme," has the lines: "Snow stored in double sand jars turns black, poems carved without jade's descent." Also, in Chen Jiru's *Nigarden Miscellaneous Talks*, it is recorded: "I obtained a purple clay jar in Baixia (commonly called a guan), inscribed with five cursive characters '且吃茶清隐' (Just drink tea, Pure Recluse), and knew it to be a relic of the High Scholar Sun. Whenever I use it to brew tea, it is elegantly antique beyond compare." (Note: High Scholar Sun's name was Sun Daoming, styled Qingyin. A man of the Yuan Dynasty, he once named his dwelling "The Place for Just Drinking Tea.") These poetic compositions and records directly discuss purple clay tea wares, sufficiently demonstrating that Yixing purple clay vessels were already being produced during the Song and Yuan periods. According to historical records such as *Yangxian Teapot System* (by Zhou Gaoqi), *Yangxian Famous Pottery Record* (by Wu Qian), and the Yixing *County Gazetteer*: "There was a monk at Jinsha Temple whose name has long been forgotten. According to people in the pottery trade, the monk was leisurely and refined in disposition, often associating with those who made pottery jars. He selected and refined purple clay fine mud, molded the clay body, used templates to form round shapes, hollowed out the interior, then added spout, handle, lid, and foot, and fired them in the kiln, making them beloved by people." During the Ming Dynasty, the scholar Wu Yishan once studied at Jinsha Temple. His family servant Gongchun accompanied him in service and learned the old monk's teapot-making methods. He also refined fine clay to form vessels, and through improvements in creative design and technique, his works were praised at the time as: [The text appears to end mid-sentence in the original]