Page 55 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC
P. 55

Fig. 1 A spinach-green
                                                                        jade ‘Six Hermits in Zuxi’
                                                                        brushpot
                                                                        © The Collection of The
                                                                        Palace Museum, Beijing
                                                                        ⚾ᶨġ䌱䪡㹒ℕ忠⚻䫮䫺
                                                                        ©ġ⊿Ṕ㓭⭖⌂䈑昊



















                            As trade ß ourished, court commissions became increasingly   晐叿⓮㤕䘤⯽炻㶭⺟⥼䲬天㯪㚜檀炻䌱⋈忈娋∝
                            demanding, pushing the craftsmen’s technical and creative   ⿅㚜ᶲⰌ㦻炻㥳⿅䱦⭮炻ⶏ⤒⣑ⶍ炻㛔䫮䫺㬋Ⱄ
                            capacities to new heights, whereby they reached virtuoso skill in
                            complex composition, as displayed on the current brushpot.  冣ἳˤ
                            The splendid pictorial scene displayed on this vessel was   㛔䫮䫺⇣∫ᷳ桐㘗炻䚠ᾉ⍾㛸冒㚜㖑㛇ㆾ⎴㛇㚠
                            probably sourced from a painting or book illustration. It was yet   䔓ㆾ㚠䯵㍺⚾炻䃞侴天⮯⸛朊⚾⁷廱䦣军䡏䌱ᷳ
                            the craftsman’s challenge to transfer the picture onto the hard
                                                                        ➭䠔堐朊炻⇯ℐㄹ䌱⋈ㇳ喅ˤ㛔䫮䫺䫺幓桐㘗㧉
                            jade’s façade. To achieve this, the artisan ingeniously treated
                            the carving like a continuous handscroll painting, distributing the   ầㇳ⌟㚠䔓炻䔓ᷕね⠫䑘丆䫺⼊堐朊⇣∫ˤ
                            various stages of the story over the vessel’s cylindrical surface.
                                                                        晽䌱侭ẍ↨ẋ䫮炻⇑䓐⣂Ⰼ㴖晽ˣ䳘⽖廒⹻⍲㶢
                            Wielding the carver’s tool almost like a paintbrush, the artist has
                            created depth and perspective through bold multi-layered relief   国⇣ㇳ㱽䆇忈㶙㶢Ⰼ㫉⍲奺⹎炻᷎⇑䓐掌䨢晽⇣
                            sculpting, subtle outlines and shadow play by shallow etching.   ⯽䣢㧡㛐冒䃞⦧ン炻㇨ㆸ䔓朊⺽Ṣℍ⊅炻Ẍ奨侭
                            Threes and foliage are rendered naturalistically in openwork,
                                                                        㚱⤪幓嗽℞⠫ˤ
                            forging illusory e# ects that draw the beholder into the scene.
                            The pictorial quality of this outstanding group of spinach-green   㬌㫦䡏䌱䫮䫺⇣∫桐㘗䲳梦ᷳ䱦伶炻⎗夳㕤ỽ泣
                            jade brushpots is exempliÞ ed by a related vessel in the Sir   ⌧䇝⢓㓞啷ᶨἳ炻䫺幓晽⇣˪侽䷼⚾˫⎬㘗炻⍫侫
                            Joseph Hotung Collection carved with various scenes from the   ŋŦŴŴŪŤŢġœŢŸŴŰů炻˪ńũŪůŦŴŦġŋŢťŦġŧųŰŮġŵũŦġŏŦŰŭŪŵũŪŤġ
                            Gengzhi tu [Pictures of tilling and weaving], and published in
                            Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, The   ŵŰġŵũŦġŒŪůŨ˫炻⣏劙⌂䈑棐炻ΐ㔎炻IJĺĺĶ⸜炻䶐嘇
                            British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 29:18.  ijĺĻIJĹˤ
                            The Palace Museum in Beijing and the National Palace Museum
                                                                        ⊿Ṕ㓭⭖⌂䈑昊⍲⎘⊿㓭⭖⌂䈑昊⛯㚱㓞啷ἄ
                            in Taipei both possess spinach-green jade brushpots displaying
                            related ‘Þ gure-in-landscape’ scenes. The Palace Museum   ἳ炻⇵侭㓞啷ᶱἳ炻⚾庱㕤˪㓭⭖⌂䈑昊啷㔯䈑
                            in Beijing has three pieces illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan   䍵⑩ℐ普ġ䌱☐炷ᶳ炸˫炻楁㷗炻IJĺĺĶ⸜炻⚾䇰IJķĹĮ
                            zang wenwu zhenpin quanji. Yuqi/The Complete Collection of
                                                                        IJĸı炻⇣∫大⚺晭普ˣ䪡㹒ℕ忠炷⚦ᶨ炸ˣ䪡㜿ᶫ
                            Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong,
                            1995, pls 168-170, depicting ‘A Literati Meeting in Xi Yuan’, ‘Six   岊⚾炻⎎㭼ᶨἳ炻䃉䫺炻庱㕤˪ᷕ⚳䌱☐ℐ普˫炻
                            Hermits in Zhuxi’ (Þ g. 1) and ‘Seven Hermits in the Bamboo   ⌟ķ炻㶭炻䞛⭞匲炻IJĺĺIJ⸜炻⚾䇰ijĸĹ炻⇣∫䚠役Ṣ
                            Grove’ respectively; and a fourth without feet, in Zhongguo yuqi
                                                                        䈑桐㘗⚾ˤ
                            quanji [Complete Collection of Chinese Jades], vol. 6: Qing,
                            Shijiazhuang, 1991, pl. 278, illustrating a related scene.  ⎘⊿⚳䩳㓭⭖⌂䈑昊㓞啷ᶨἳ炻㚦⯽㕤˪厗⢷喅
                            The National Palace Museum in Taipei has a brushpot without   埻ᷕ䘬冒䃞奨烉Ⓒ䋶㓭⭖㔯䈑怠厫䈡⯽˫炻⚳䩳
                            feet, included in the exhibition catalogue Huaxia yishu zhong de   㓭⭖⌂䈑昊炻⎘⊿炻ijıIJķ⸜炻ġ䶐嘇ijĹ炻䫮䫺䃉嵛炻
                            ziran jian/Viewing Nature in Chinese Art. A Special Exhibition of
                            Select Artifacts from the Museum Collection to Celebrate the   ⇣∫㍉咖⚾炻⼴侭᷎⚾庱㕤˪⭖⺟ᷳ晭烉㶭ẋầ
                            2016 Tang Prize, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2016, no. 28,   ⎌⍲䔓シ䌱☐䈡⯽⚾抬˫炻⚳䩳㓭⭖⌂䈑昊炻⎘
                            carved with Þ gures picking lotus blossoms. This vessel is also
                                                                        ⊿炻IJĺĺĸ⸜炻䶐嘇ĶĹ炻⎴㚠᷎庱ℑἳ炻䃉䫺炻⇣˪





                                   CHINESE ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING GIFT   53
   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60