Page 112 - Bonhams Hong K June 2016
P. 112
The scene on the brushpot refers to a Daoist legend recorded in the Collection, which also records the artist sojourning at Zhushan. See
Shenxian zhuan (神仙傳) or Biography of Immortals, by Ge Hong (284- H.Moss, V.Graham and K.B.Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle:
363), which tells of a young shepherd called Huang Chuping from The J&J Collection, New York, 1993, pl.251.
Danxi, Jinhua, who disappeared whilst herding his sheep. His elder
brother Huang Chuqi searched all over for him, to no avail, until forty It is extremely unusual to find a brushpot such as the present lot with
years later he heard from a Daoist priest about a shepherd on Jinhua an Imperial reign seal. One example with a brownish-yellow glaze,
Mountain who was indeed his long-lost brother. When the two brothers Daoguang seal mark and of the period, from the Art Museum, Chinese
met again, Chuping explained that he had followed an Immortal and University of Hong Kong, is illustrated by T.Miller and H.Hui, Elegance
had become an Immortal himself. Chuqi then asked about his flock, in Relief: Carved Porcelain from Jingdezhen of the 19th to Early 20th
and Chuping said that they were in front of the cave. Chuping looked Centuries, Hong Kong, 2006, no.6; see also no.46 for a yellow-glazed
but saw only white rocks, until he happened to shout, at which the example currently in the Anthony K.W. Cheung collection; and a
rocks suddenly became sheep. Chuqi realised that his brother was four-character Daoguang mark can be found on a related brownish-
indeed an Immortal, and the phrase chi shi cheng yang (turning stones yellow-glazed brushpot imitating bamboo, illustrated in The Complete
into goats by shouting) came to be used to describe miraculous Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain,
events. Shanghai, 1999, no.49. See also a brownish-yellow brushpot, from the
Baur Collection dated to 1848, illustrated by Miller and Hui, ibid., no.3.,
In its carving style and subject matter, the brushpot is closely related which shows a similarly exuberant yet detailed treatment of the incised
to a group of carved porcelain brushpots attributed to the master mountains.
craftsman Chen Guozhi, who worked at Jingdezhen during the
early 19th century. Both in their style and attribution, the works of For two other examples from the Daoguang period, combining
Chen Guozhi and other masters such as Wang Bingrong, represent the Chen Guozhi signature and the Daoguang reign period, see a
a blurring of the distinctions between artist and craftsman, and the turquoise-glazed brushpot with the seal mark Da Qing Daoguang
signatures found on a number of such pieces serve to claim a position Chen Guozhi zhi in the Baur Collection, and another brownish-yellow
for the potter closer to that of a recognisable artist rather than as an brushpot in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, with a kaishu mark
anonymous craftsman. Indeed it is perhaps possible to discern the Daoguang dingwei qiu jiuyue Shenbao shu Chen Guozhi zuo, dated to
hand of Chen Guozhi in the inscription on the present lot. The writing 1847, illustrated by Miller and Hui, ibid., nos.17 and 2.
style is very similar to that on a snuff bottle in the James and Julie Li
