Page 175 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE MASSACHUSETTS COLLECTION
1673
A DARK GREEN SERPENTINE SCHOLAR’S ROCK
The stone is of irregular horizontal form, resembling a mountain range, and is
of dark green color, with lightly mottled patina.
20 in. (50.8 cm.) wide, softwood stand by Clif A. Johnson, Los Angeles, c.
2005.
$6,000-8,000

For a discussion of serpentine scholar’s rocks, particularly the Laoshan
stone from Shandong province, see R. D. Mowry, Worlds Within Worlds:
The Richard Rosenblum Collection of Chinese Scholars’ Rocks, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1997, pp. 281-87, nos. 67-68.
蛇紋石供

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE MASSACHUSETTS COLLECTION
1674
A ‘CALICO’ LINGBI SCHOLAR’S ROCK
The two-sided rock is pierced with four large and smaller perforations that
create a great sense of depth and volume. The pale brownish-beige stone is
peppered with areas of dark grey and creamy russet inclusions and the surface
is textured with mottled indentations.
12Ω in. (31.7 cm.) wide, softwood stand
$6,000-8,000

Compare the present scholar’s rock to a related example illustrated by R.
D. Mowry in Worlds Within Worlds: The Richard Rosenblum Collection of
Chinese Scholars’ Rocks, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997, pp. 200-202, no.
28.
靈璧賞石

ANOTHER PROPERTY
1675
A SMALL BOXWOOD (HUANGYANGMU) TREE-TRUNK-FORM
BRUSH POT
18TH CENTURY
The brush pot is fnely carved in high relief as a section of a prunus tree, the
sides undercut with blossoming and budding branches.
4 in. (10.2 cm.) high, cloth box
$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE
J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 1986, no. 1482.
The Robert H. Blumenfeld Collection.
Auspicious Treasures of from the Blumenfeld Collection, Christie’s New York,
22 March 2012, lot 1285.
EXHIBITED
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Sumptuous Elegance: Art of
the 18th Century Qing Dynasty, 17 March - 30 June 1992.
A huangyangmu brush pot of comparable size, also carved as a section of a
fowering prunus tree, is illustrated in Oriental Works of Art, The Oriental Art
Gallery Ltd., June 1993, no. 27. Compare, also, the example of slightly smaller
size (3¬ in. high) carved in a similar fashion as a section of pine tree rather
than prunus tree illustrated by R. Piccus ed., in Wood From the Scholar’s
Studio, Altfeld Gallery, Hong Kong, 1984, no. 23, where it is dated early to
mid-18th century. The carving on these two brush pots and the present brush 1675
pot exhibit a very fne sensibility and fnesse.
清十八世紀 黃楊木雕梅樁式筆筒
171