Page 320 - Christie's, NYC Important Chinese Works Of Art Sept. 22-23, 2022

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT WASHINGTON PRIVATE COLLECTION
1013
A SUPERB AND FINELY DECORATED BLUE AND WHITE The inscription on this brush pot is the second part of Hou Chi Bi Fu (Ode to
`SECOND ODE ON THE RED CLIFF' BRUSH POT the Red Cliff) by the Song-dynasty poet Su Shi (Su Dongpo, 1037-1096), and
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722) the finely painted scene on the reverse represents an episode from the poem
The cylindrical sides are decorated with a scene of scholars and attendants showing the poet on a tranquil boating trip by night. The two seals after the
inscription probably read Er Yan and Jiang Xia and may represent names,
drinking wine in a covered boat beneath a constellation, and approaching a however these individuals do not appear to have been recorded.
crane flying underneath a rocky outcropping. The reverse is inscribed with the
‘Second Ode on the Red Cliff’ by Su Shi seals, with two seals possibly reading This subject was very popular during the Kangxi period and appears on a
Er Yan and Jiang Xia. The base has a four-character mark reading wen zhang variety of high-quality blue and white wares, including brush pots, square-
shan dou (scholarship as high as the mountains and the Great Bear). section vases, large ‘phoenix-tail vases’ and gu-form vases. The scenes
7¿ in. (18 cm.) diam., fitted cloth box depicted are generally from the First or Second Ode to the Red Cliff, and are
generally accompanied by excerpts from the poem and sometimes followed
$70,000-90,000 by one or two seals. River scenes such as that on the current brush pot,
depicting a group of scholars on a boat, often with a crane flying above, likely
PROVENANCE: reference the episode when a crane flew over the poet’s boat in the evening.
Sotheby’s New York, 30 March 2006, lot 312. The constellation that appears at the top of the current scene is referenced
by the wen zhang shan dou mark on the base.
華盛頓重要私人珍藏
A blue and white brush pot from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, also
清康熙 青花「後赤壁賦」筆筒 「文章山斗」款 depicting a river scene from the Second Ode to the Red Cliff and with the
來源: same mark on the base, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2010,
紐約蘇富比, 2006年3月30日, 拍品編號312 lot 957. Two other examples with a related scenes, inscriptions and marks,
were sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2007, lot 324 and Christie’s
Hong Kong, 31 March 1992, lot 691. An interesting gu-form vase in the
Palace Museum, Beijing, showing a related scene on the lower portion, with
the inscription on the flared neck followed by two seals, one reading Jiang
Xia, as on the current brush pot, is illustrated in The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 36 – Blue and White Porcelain with
Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 39, no. 32.

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