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ANCIENNE COLLECTION RAOUL MICHAU 1897 1981 This well-carved brushpot may be compared to works
attributed to the famous bamboo carver Gu Jue, a native of
RARE POT À PINCEAUX EN BAMBOU Jiading in Jiangsu province, and one of the most celebrated
SCULPTÉ carvers of the Kangxi period who was known for his nely
DYNASTIE QING, ÉPOQUE KANGXI detailed scenes of gures in landscapes, his technique
often combining high-relief with shallow carving and precise
de forme ovale, le pourtour nement sculpté sur plusieurs details. Such was the fastidiousness of his discipline that
niveaux d’une scène continue représentant les Huit Immortels he was known to take up to a year to complete one piece,
traversant la mer sur une barque, chacun tenant ses attributs, demonstrating his acute observation and understanding of
leurs gestes et leur physionomie représentés, dans un paysage nature beyond woodblock prints and paintings from which
aux rochers escarpés peuplés de pins noueux et de ravins many of the decorative motifs found on bamboo carvings often
parmi lesquels évoluent deux cervidés, les ots déchainés derived
écumants se brisant sur le radeau, la patine d’une belle couleur
brune satinée, le col et le pied montés en huanghuali This brushpot illustrates the Eight Daoist Immortals crossing
Haut. 14,2 cm, 5½ in. the rough seas after attending the Peach Festival in the
Western Paradise of the Queen Mother of the West. Combining
A rare well-carved bamboo brushpot carved with the Eight their strengths, they were able to safely make it through the
Immortals in a raft, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period tempest, showing that obstacles can be overcome.
Works signed by or attributed to Gu Jue are rare. Compare
Ⴚ30 000-50 000 € an example from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the
255 000-424 000 HK$ 32 700-54 500 US$ Seattle Art Museum, illustrated in Ip Yee and Laurence C. S.
Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, col.
pl. 50. A smaller bamboo brushpot carved with a landscape
and signed Gu Zhongyu, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is
published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn
Carving, Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 39.
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