Sihai Teapot Museum [Photo from WeChat account of baifoyuan1978] |
Sihai Teapot Museum, founded by Xu Sihai, a renowned teapot collector and purple clay artist, is a mirror reflecting the history and development of Chinese ceramics, with over 300 items in its collection ranging from the Neolithic era to modern times.
The museum was originally founded in 1987 on Yuyuan Rd, a tranquil corner hidden in urban Shanghai, as the first private museum in China, more like a place to make a cup of tea with friends and share some idle time.
In 1991, supported by the Shanghai government, the museum was relocated to Xingguo Road in Changning district, having its style and scale ranking top among local museums.
It was moved to Baifo Garden in Jiading district two years later, where more than 1,000 stone Buddha statues from different dynasties are housed. The garden was listed as one of the top 10 private museums in China in 2004, with its most precious teapot, the Duozhi Pot, which was created by master Shao Daheng (1796-1861), being honored in local chronicles as "a thousand taels of gold is not enough to buy the pot".
Xu Sihai, the founder, has been promoting Chinese ceramics and tea culture since the 1990s. He has donated many ancient ceramics and purple clay teapots to Jiading museums and to the China Zisha Museum in Yixing, a county-level city in Jiangsu province where ceramics culture prospers.
Ticket price: free for visit
Tel: +86-21-5918 5220
Address: 1978 Cao'an Highway, Jiading district