At Red Hill Capital, we abhor dishonesty, which includes both lying and cheating.  In China, in all businesses, there are many people who lie and cheat.  In the teapot art market, there are many people who overprice teapots, in the retail and wholesale markets, so, we strive to find artists to deal with, directly, and we keep relationships with wholesalers who are honest, as a means to participate in the inter-dealer markets.  When it comes to artists, there are many who charge unreasonable prices for their work, which, to us, is tantamount to dishonesty.  Moreover, they turn out copy after copy of those overpriced teapots, so there is not even value created by uniqueness or limited edition.  In the end, it is difficult to find artists who are honest, creative and reasonably priced.  As a result, we are constantly searching for new teapot artists to add to our gallery offerings and our collection.

Over time, we have accumulated brochures from many potential artists to consider their art for inclusion, in the Leona Craig Gallery.  In many of those brochures, artists include pictures of themselves with other famous teapot artists, sometimes, their mentors.  Of course, as students of both psychology and of marketing, we understand their motivations, and we would never put them down for simple self-promotion.  However, we have made another discovery, recently, as our collection of such brochures has grown.

As you may or may not know, Jiang Rong was one of the most famous teapot artists of the second half of the twentieth century, and she only recently passed away, in her 80's.  Indeed, she is part of a teapot artist dynasty with her father, Jiang Yan Ting, a famous teapot artist from the earlier part of the century, and with many of her relatives, including her adopted daughter, continuing the family tradition, into today.  In fact, we do talk to some members of the family, and we have included some of their works in our collection and gallery.  Another thing that you should know is that people, even those who simply buy a teapot from a famous artist, like to have their photos take with the artist, which we are sure has happened with Jiang Rong countless times during her lifetime. 

Indeed, now that we have seem so may pictures of Jiang Rong we have noticed that most of the pictures are taken at the same table, in her house, with a settee, in the background with one of her crutches leaning against it.  In fact, what we have discovered, in looking more closely at some of those pictures of contemporary teapot artists, supposedly sitting at the table with her, is that they are, obviously, actually, composite photos in which the artist and, sometimes, even their teapots are photoshopped into the photo with Jiang Rong.

So, as not to be upstaged by dishonest teapots artists, we, too, have photoshopped a picture of me with Jiang Rong, which we show, below.  We did not even take the time to make it perfect, and we purposely chose a photo of me in the wind at the beach, in a standing position, in the bright sunlight to make it even more kitschy.  We cleared the table of the teapots that the teapot artist had photoshopped in, in their photo with Jiang Rong.



As we have said, many times, the Yixing zisha teapot markets are treacherous, and you need someone with integrity, experience, connections, and analytical ability to assist you through its muddied waters.  We, at Red Hill Capital and Leona Craig Art , abhor dishonesty, whether it is in overpricing, in selling fakes, or, simply, in photoshopping relationships.

Special thanks to K. Scott Shay for his assistance with photoshopping our photo.

Craig Mattoli, CEO Red Hill Capital Corporation, Delaware, USA
owner of Leona Craig Art Gallery, Guangzhou, China
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