Page 138 - March 17 2017 Chinese Art NYC, Christies

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PROPERTY FROM THE JAMES K. LI COLLECTION ANOTHER PROPERTY

1114 1115
A CARVED BAMBOO WRIST REST
A PAIR OF LARGE CARVED RED LACQUER AND GILT ‘DA JI’
SIGNED ZHI CI’AN, REPUBLIC PERIOD DOUBLE-GOURD VASES
The glossy, brown bamboo wrist rest has a convex top carved with archaic 19TH CENTURY
objects imitating stone carvings together with a mirror, beneath an incised
inscription praising the longevity of bronze and stone, a dedication to Each vase of rectangular sections is crisply carved on four sides with lotus
Zhuyingxuan zhuren (‘The master of the Hall of Bamboo’s Shadow’), and a blossoms on leafy scrolls against a leiwen ground, encircling a gilt scallop-
signature Ci’an, and a seal, Zhi. edged roundel on each main convex side of the upper and lower sections
114 in. (29.1 cm.) high carved with a black-lacquered Da character above and a Ji character below.

$3,000-5,000 18¡ in. (46.7 cm.) high (2)
$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE 清十九世紀 剔紅大吉瓶一對

Collection of Ambassador Ti-Tsun Li (1901-1981), and thence by descent to the
present owner.

Zhi Ci’an (1903-1974) was an accomplished painter and carver who
specialized in seal and bamboo carving, with his best known works found in
bamboo fans and wrist rests. On commenting the declining qualities of the
bamboo carving in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Chinese art
connoisseur Wang Shixiang praised Zhi Ci’an for breathing new life into this
category in the twentieth century.

民國 支慈盦刻金石集錦圖臂擱

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