The Purple Clay ( Zisha Teapot) is a traditional Chinese teapot, which is said to have originated from the Song Dynasty to the Zhengde period of Emperor Wu of Ming Dynasty. The material used to make Zisha pots is Yixing Zisha mineral clay, which is a
sedimentary rock with overlapping mineral layers of different colors. The material consists of scaly purple clay, native green clay, white clay, yellow clay and red clay, collectively known as Zisha clay. Because it is produced in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, it is also called Yixing Zisha.