Page 61 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

Fig. 1. A White and Spinach-Green Jade “Bridge Scene” Brush Rest. Sold Christie’s Paris,
12 December 2018, lot 117 .

This rare brush rest is testament to the skill and sensitivity displayed
by the jade carvers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Carved in the form of a miniature scene of fgures crossing a bridge, but
functionable as a brush rest, this piece represents a microcosm of everyday
life upon which the user could meditate while going about scholarly
activities. Although several comparable examples of white jade bridge-form
brush rests exist within museum collections, there appear to be no published
examples with spinach-green jade base representing the river. One other
known example with a spinach-green base, but of somewhat larger size
(8Ω in. long overall), was sold at Christie’s, Paris, 12 December 2018, lot 117
(Fig. 1). See, also, a white jade bridge-shaped brush rest in the collection
of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of
Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995,
p. 195, no. 159. Another brush rest, of a size similar to that of the present
example, also in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated
in Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Hebei, 1991, p. 200, no. 286.

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