Page 158 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

181 Y
A BAMBOO ‘RED CLIFF’ BRUSHPOT, BITONG When the Song dynasty literatus Su Dongpo (1037-1101) was first
18th century sent to Huangzhou in exile for opposing reformist policies at court,
Exquisitely carved in high relief with a boat containing a table with he passed by the supposed site of the naval battle of the Red Cliffs
incense burner and books, a boy preparing tea, floating along the river (AD 208). Su wrote the two poems on the Red Cliffs commemorating
beside craggy rocks and cliffs, the banks with gnarled pine trees and the valour and bravery of the historical heroes that fought in the battle
bamboo groves, the winding path with bearded scholars and boy- long past, while also voicing his own sense of nostalgia, loss and
attendants, hongmu stand. receding into the pages of history. His poems have since entered into
16.5cm (6 1/2in) high. (2). the Chinese literary canon and are a continuously popular motif for
artists and poets; see R.Egan, Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of
£6,000 - 8,000 Su Shi, Cambridge MA, 1994, pp.221-228.
CNY47,000 - 63,000
Compare with a related brushpot carved with a scene of Su Dongpo
十八世紀 竹雕赤壁夜遊圖筆筒 in a boat under the Red Cliff, late 18th century, illustrated by Ip Yee
and L.Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978,
pp.288-289.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
156 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.