Anybody know anything about Chinese Teapots?
 

I bought this awhile ago, and I wonder if anybody knows anything about this ugly thing. I assume it's a teapot at least.

The writing on the side is in Mongolian, but it's jibberish. It just says "babu babu mamu mamu" over and over which apparently doesn't mean anything. The other writing is Chinese, somebody told me the marks on the bottom say "Made by Shi Dabin". Shi Dabin was a famous teapot maker from hundreds of years ago. He obviously didn't make this monstrosity, but it's common for other teapot makers to use his name.

Looks like modern junk to my eye...

It was covered and filled with dirt when I bought it, somebody probably was just trying to make it look old. Its actually quite sturdy. It weighs as much as a brick and it makes that nice "tink" sound when you tap it with something hard. It sure is ugly, though.

THE DESIGN DOES NOT APPEAL TO US MUCH, BUT MAKEING SUCH A THING WOULD REQUIRE QUITE A LOT OF SKILL. THE TYPE OF CLAY USED AND THE LACK OF A GLAZE WOULD HELP IDENTIFY THE STYLE AND ERA OF THE POTTERY BEING COPIED. I THINK THIS EXAMPLE REPRESENTS A ARCHAIC FORM AND ERA. THEY MAKE A LOT OF LITTLE TEA POTS OUT OF A CLAY THAT LOOKS A LOT LIKE THIS IN ONE REGION. I HAVE BEEN THERE AND LOOKED AT LOTS OF THE CERAMIC WORK IT WAS YIXING ZISHA PURPLE CLAY. THEY SELL LOTS OF THE TEA POTS ON EBAY AND THEY COME IN MANY FORMS. YOUR POT IS PROBABLY FROM THAT AREA AND RECENT THOUGH IT HAD DIRT IN AND ON IT, A COMMON ENOUGH PRACTICE WITH CERAMICS AND BRONZE ITEMS FROM CHINA. THE PART WITH HOLES FOR HANGING THE POT PERHAPS OVER THE FIRE TO KEEP IT WARM IS A OLD DESIGN. THEY DON'T SEEM TO BE TRYING TO SELL THE UGLY TEAPOTS MUCH ON EBAY NOW ONLY THE BETTER LOOKING ONES, BUT I AM SURE THEY HAVE PLENTY IN CHINA.
BABU BABU MAMU MAMU SOUNDS LIKE SOME OLD CHINESE BLUES SONG
OH! BABY BABY, MAMA MAMA :rolleyes:

I think your theory just might be right, Vandoo!

It's similar to Yixing teapots, of which I have a couple. But this one is much much larger and the surface texture is like cement. It would make a very poor teapot as it'd be very difficult to the tea leaves out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yixing_clay_teapot

If it is from Yixing, why would it have Mongolian writing on it? Since the writing is nonsense maybe it was purely decorational. The writing is "correctly" formed but it doesn't mean anything, at least not in Mongolian. The Manchu/Jurchen used to use the same writing system but that was hundreds of years ago.

WHEN I WAS LOOKING AT THE YIXING CERAMIC WORK IT WAS AMAZING THE MANY FORMS THEY HAD ON HAND. IT LOOKED LIKE THEY COPYIED ANYTHING THEY SAW IN OLD BOOKS AS WELL AS MADE UP WILD DESIGNS AS THEY WENT. THIS WAS EARLY WHEN THE SHOPS ALL OVER CHINA WERE FULL OF ITEMS THAT HAD BEEN SITTING ON THE SHELF FOR MANY YEARS DUE TO LACK OF CUSTOMERS. A LOT OF THAT STUFF HAS SLOWLY BEEN SOLD TO TOURISTS AND ON EBAY SINCE CHINA OPENED UP TO TRADE. THE OLD STUFF IS USUALLY BETTER MADE THAN WHAT THEY ARE MAKING NOW UNFORTUNATELY. MANDARIN IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE AND BASED ON MONGOLIAN SO PERHAPS THIS IS A COPY MADE OF EARLY MONGOLIAN TIMES ? THE EARLY REPLICAS WERE OFTEN MADE VERY MUCH LIKE THE ORIGINALS TO FOOL THE CHINESE COLLECTOR AND HAD TO BE VERY WELL DONE TO DO THAT. PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT YOU HAVE AT ANY RATE I LIKE IT , KINDS OF GROWS ON YOU LIKE A UGLY BULLDOG . :D

I've shown this teapot to several Mongolian antique collectors and none of them know what it is. The writing means nothing (one said it might be a mantra, another said it might be a baby's lullaby) and the shape isn't traditional or anything like that. All have agreed that it's pretty old and very ugly, but that's it.