Page 287 - Bonhams May 12 16 London

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY 女士藏品

284 Wumen Zhou Zhu (吴門周柱) can be translated as ‘Zhou Zhu Wu
A RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND HARDSTONE-INLAID ZITAN School’, Wu signifying the region around the central city of Suzhou.
TRAY Zhou Zhu was an acclaimed Ming artisan known for developing a
Silver-inlaid Wumen Zhou Zhu four-character mark, 17th/18th century technique in the late 16th century of inlaying a complex variety of
Exquisitely inlaid with a scene of a huntsman on a galloping horse semi-precious coloured stones on a rich, dense zitan timber, and
chasing two deer in a setting with rocks and clouds, in different colours more often deploying inlay upon inlay. This technique and style which
of mother-of-pearl, malachite, carnelian and soapstone, all on a rich, continued long after Zhou Zhu’s death became known as ‘Zhou work’
lustrous dark wood ground, the rim inlaid with a silver wire key-fret (Zhou zhi). See C.Clunas, Chinese Furniture, London, 1997, p.94. See
scroll, box. also M.Flacks, Custodians of the Way: Chinese Scholar’s Objects in
18.1cm (7 1/8in) long (2). Precious Woods, London, 2014, pp.43 and 376.

£15,000 - 20,000 CNY140,000 - 180,000 Compare with a zitan box and cover with a design of a Steppe
HK$160,000 - 220,000 horseman, attributed to Zhou Zhu and dated to the Jiajing period,
which was sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 116. See
十七/十八世紀 紫檀嵌百寶胡人狩獵圖盤 also another box and cover attributed to Zhou Zhu, Jiajing period,
「吴門周柱」嵌銀款 which sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 8 April 2013, lot 145; and
another, cyclically dated to AD1537, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong,
Provenance: an English private collection, acquired before 1940, 8 October 2010, lot 2192. Also, see a similar hardstone-inlaid zitan
and thence by descent brush palette sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 24 November 2012,
lot 308.
來源：英國私人收藏, 購於1940之前，並由後人保存迄今

FINE CHINESE ART | 285