Page 42 - Christie's London May 14, 2019 Chinese Works of Art

Tranquil contemplation on a summer’s day – A painted Yixing brush pot
Rosemary Scott, Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art

Amongst the rarest of vessels from the famous Yixing kilns of southern Yang Jichu is preserved in the Palace Museum Beijing and is illustrated
Jiangsu province are those decorated with fne surface painting using in Zhongguo taoci quanji – 23 – Yixing, op. cit., no. 116. A pale-bodied
multicoloured slip. However, the names of a small number of artists working Yixing brush pot decorated in very similar style and with extremely similar
in this medium are documented. This brush pot bears the seal of one of landscape decoration to that of the current brush pot is also in the collection
those artists, Yang Jichu, who is recorded in the 1797 Chongkan jingxi of the Palace Museum and is illustrated in Zisha Wares in the Palace Museum,
xianzhi (Republished Jingxi Gazetteer) Jiangsu province, compiled by Tang Beijing, 2009, p. 184, no. 103. This brush pot has a Qianlong mark in place
Zhongmian and Ning Lishan, who both gained their jinshi degrees in 1793. of the Yang Jichu seal impressed into its base. It is possible that this latter
Yang Jichu, who was active in the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the Beijing brush pot was made either as an imperial order, or that it was
18th century, was particularly admired for his fne painting in slip on Yixing intended to be sent as imperial tribute. It may have been decorated by Yang
wares. Surviving examples of Yang Jichu’s Yixing painted wares show that he Jichu but it may not have been appropriate for the artist to append his own
painted on both pale-bodied brush pots, like the current example, and also seal to a vessel made for the emperor.
darker so-called ‘purple’-bodied brush pots, such as the vessel decorated
with landscape, formerly in the collection of Chen Keli, sold by Christie’s The landscape on the current brush pot is a very accomplished composition
Hong Kong on 1st June 2016, lot 3374, and another decorated with crabs sold showing a scholar in summer robe seated on a day bed in a lakeside
by Christie’s Hong Kong on 30th November 2016, lot 3346 – both of which pavilion, gazing out over the water, in which lotuses bloom, towards a group
bear Yang Jichu’s seal. Another dark-bodied brush pot with slip painted of swimming ducks and a fsherman in his sampan. The mood of tranquil
decoration and bearing a Yang Jichu mark preserved in the collection of the contemplation is suggested not only by the relaxed posture of the scholar,
Palace Museum Beijing is illustrated in Purple Sandy Ware, The Complete but by the two large wine jars, which can be seen within the pavilion. There
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2008, no. 115. is also a large white screen on what appears to be a wooden stand, and
Further slip painted, dark-bodied, brush pots bearing the seal of Yang Jichu a rolled rattan curtain, which would have served to provide shade when
are in the collections of the Suzhou Museum and the Yangzhou Museum, unrolled. A servant is shown crossing the bridge from the rocky outcrop on
illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji – 23 – Yixing, Tokyo and Shanghai, 1982, the banks of the lake to the pavilion, which is built on stilts into the lake itself.
nos. 24 and 70, respectively. A further dark-bodied brush pot bearing a The roof of the pavilion is thatched in keeping with imagery which occurs
Yang Jichu seal and decorated with a slip painted landscape is illustrated in frequently in literati poetry and paintings. The branches of an old willow tree
Yangxian shaqi jingpin tupu, Taipei, 1985, pl. 40. overhang the pavilion and on the other side of the rocky outcrop a gnarled
cypress tree overhangs the water. The whole scene encapsulates the literati
The pale golden coloured body of the current brush pot lends itself idyll of escape from the cares of oficial duties and the enjoyment of bucolic
particularly well to landscape painting and emphasises the similarities tranquillity.
between the landscapes painted on the stoneware brush pot and those
painted on silk or paper. Another pale-bodied Yixing brush pot, formerly in The scene on the brush pot is laid out like a handscroll and is particularly
the collection of Robert H. Blumenfeld, decorated with a landscape using reminiscent of paintings by the Ming dynasty artist Shen Zhou (1427–1509),
similarly coloured slip and also bearing a Yang Jichu seal mark was sold by whose courtesy names were Qi’nan and Shitian. Shen Zhou came from an
Christie’s New York on the 22nd March 2012, lot 1246. A further light-bodied honoured and wealthy family in Suzhou, and was able to devote his life to
brush pot decorated with slip painted decoration and bearing the seal of painting, calligraphy and poetry. He is regarded as one of the Four Masters of

40 In addition to the hammer price, a Buyer’s Premium (plus VAT) is payable. Other taxes and/or an Artist Resale Royalty
fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.