The exact term "高潘壶" (literally “Gao‑Pan teapot”) is not widely documented in standard reference works, so its precise historical provenance and canonical features are ambiguous. In Chinese ceramic practice, however, names like this commonly combine a descriptive term (高 = tall) with either a maker’s name or a traditional shape name (潘), so it is reasonable to treat it as a tall variant of a named teapot form.
General historical context: small, named teapot forms have a long tradition in China, especially among Yixing (宜兴) stoneware teapots from the late Ming and Qing periods. Makers and kiln traditions gave rise to many eponymous shapes, each optimized for particular brewing styles and clays. Such forms were valued both for practical brewing—especially gongfu cha—and for connoisseurship and collecting.
Shape note: as the name suggests, a “high” or tall teapot typically has an upright, elongated body with a higher shoulder and relatively narrow diameter. This increases internal volume and headspace, alters infusion dynamics, and visually emphasizes vertical proportion. Proportions, spout angle and lid fit remain key to pouring performance; similar tall forms are often thrown or hand‑built from zisha or other stoneware clays and finished with simple, restrained ornament.
Wood-fired handmade Yixing teapot made from Duanni clay sourced from the original Huanglongshan mine. Xu Shun Wei.
