Page 38 - Jie Rui Tang Kangxi porcelain mar 2018

313 A LARGE BLUE ⌲Ꮴ⛆ 䱿㟞〦᳄̰䈏ృ̶䋠びみ
AND WHITE ‘SEVEN Ȩ๔ᬻ᜽ࡃᎡ㸪ȩЬ
SAGES’ BRUSHPOT

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period ҳ⎽
Solveig Anita Gray⧍侚2001䎃
of cylindrical form supported on three bracket
feet, " nely painted with scholars in a bamboo
grove amid resplendent pines and ribbons ܧ❵
of clouds, one sage calligraphing a rock in Je% rey P StamenCynthia Volk ⿻⧋❠俛
the company of another, nearby a third sage շ俒ꅷ⼾搭 : 悦誩㛔询䐁擳渿⚆櫙ո䋒ス
playing the qin and three more listening while 饟2017䎃㕬晝36
considering a group of antiques arranged
before them, an elderly sage strolling with the
aid of a gnarled sta% and an attendant, the
base with an unglazed ring and centered with
a recessed medallion with an apocryphal six-
character Chenghua mark in underglaze blue,
coll. no. 214.
Diameter 7½ in., 19 cm

PROVENANCE
Solveig & Anita Gray, London, 2001.
LITERATURE
Je% rey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin
Ni, A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-era Chinese
Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection,
Bruges, 2017, pl. 36.
$ 50,000-70,000

The ‘Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove’ The present brushpot is further distinguished A large blue and white brushpot with a
were a group of poets, musicians, and by the inclusion of the bracket feet that elevate strikingly similar composition and apocryphal
scholar-o! cials active in the third century the cylindrical form. The presence of feet Chenghua four-character mark from the Qing
who retreated from public service as an act on 17th century porcelain brushpots is rare. Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing
of political protest. In the Ming and Qing Normally, the base of a porcelain brushpot is illustrated in The Complete Collection of
dynasties, they were favorite subjects of rested directly on the table’s surface; feet Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and
painters, carvers, and ceramicists, who were reserved for jardinières which required White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong
depicted them composing poetry, playing the the elevation for drainage or censers which Kong, 2000, cat. no. 50. A related brushpot
qin, appreciating antiquities, and engaging in were raised to keep heat away from wood or illustrating literati examining a handscroll
various lofty pursuits. Bamboo carvers and lacquer surfaces. However, late Ming dynasty beneath an upper border of rippling clouds
potters of the Kangxi era often applied this brushpots with similar tab or bracket feet in the collection of the Shanghai Museum is
theme to brushpots and other objects for the carved from hardwoods, bamboo, ivory and illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji: Qing (1)
scholar’s studio. lacquer imply that that elevation of the form [The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics:
was an established aesthetic choice and one Qing I], vol. 14, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 48. Another
that perhaps prevented the ring stains that blue and white brushpot illustrating the ‘Seven
often resulted from # at-based brushpots. Sages’ from the collection of Peter and Nancy
Thompson sold in our London rooms, 7th
November 2012, lot 33.

36 SOTHEBY’S