Page 174 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

1214 AN INSCRIBED BOXWOOD FIGURE OF A SEATED SCHOLAR
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Well carved as a scholar with wizened face holding a book in his right hand
while seated beneath the overhanging branch of the log-form raft in which
he sits, the sides of the raft lapped by waves, the reverse carved with fve
inscriptions: one reading Huiting zi ti (Huiting inscribed (this) himself), another
reading jichou liu yue shi nian liushi you wu (In May of the year jichou (1769 or
1829), at the age of sixty-fve)
9º in. (23.5 cm.) high
$15,000-25,000
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 30 April-2 May 1991, lot 142.
Spink & Son, Ltd., London, 1992.
The Irving Collection, no. 3811.

This fne carving may represent the legendary Han dynasty explorer
Zhang Qian shown foating down the Yangzi River in a hollowed log-boat.
According to legend, Zhang is said to have traveled in search of the source
of the Yangzi River, and found himself foating on the Milky Way (River of
Heaven) where he caught sight of the Weaving Maiden and the Cowherd,
the two mythical lovers separated by that galaxy.

The most famous representations of this theme are the silver fgures in the
National Palace Museum, Taipei, and the one formerly in the collection of
Sir Percival David, now in the Cleveland Museum of Art, both illustrated by
Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, p.
263, nos. 382 and 383. Both silver examples are inscribed with the seal of
the 14th-century silversmith, Zhu Bishan, but according to Chapman, p. 264,
the Cleveland raft is generally accepted as being made in the Ming dynasty,
probably in the 16th century, while the Taipei raft is generally accepted as
dating from the 14th century.

清十八/十九世紀 黃楊木雕高士坐像

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