Ceramic teapot

This teapot is engraved with a Chinese poem praising King Charles III’s commitment to the balance between built and natural environments. It was presented to him as Prince of Wales in 2017, at the offices of The Prince's Foundation for Building Community, which aimed to transform lives by creating beautiful, harmonious and sustainable communities. 

The unglazed pot replicates the famous zisha clay vessels made in kilns at Yixing in China from the sixteenth century onwards. This is said to be where teapots were first invented, as potters adapted existing wine vessel forms to meet the demands of tea drinkers using steeped leaves rather than powder. Many such teapots were moulded in fanciful shapes or incised with auspicious inscriptions, as here.