Page 171 - Bonhams Chinese Art NYC Nov 9 2017

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A BAMBOO ‘QIAO DAUGHTERS’ BRUSH POT,
BITONG
Kangxi
The cylindrical vessel finely rendered in shallow relief
around the exterior with a continuous scene of two
elegantly coiffed ladies reading in a rocky outdoor
setting beneath a wutong and pine tree with a scaly
trunk and twisting branches, a lady attendant beyond
a plantain tree brings another book towards the couple
seated among a table with teapot, tripod incense
burner, and brush pot containing a fly-whisk and lingzhi
fungus, the bamboo of reddish-brown tone with darker
brown areas, ink signature underneath.
14cm (5 1/2in) high

£3,000 - 5,000
CNY27,000 - 45,000

清康熙 竹雕二喬伴讀筆筒

Provenance: a German private collection, and
thence by descent

來源： 德國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今 107

The two ladies carved on the brush pot most
probably refer to the two Qiao daughters (Eastern
Han dynasty). They were both immortalised as
beauties in the Ming dynasty historical novel,
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the novel, the
strategist and emissary Zhuge Liang attempted to
persuade the warlord Sun Quan to ally himself with
his lord Liu Bei against Cao Cao. To provoke him
into the alliance, Zhuge Liang claimed that Cao Cao
desired the two Qiao daughters (both of whom were
connected to the Sun clan by marriage). The resulting
alliance led to the famous battle at the Red Cliffs.

The elegantly elongated form of the ladies and
unusual rock formations, as well as the finely-
delineated knots and grain on the trees, suggest
that this design was influenced by woodblock
prints in the style of the Ming dynasty painter Chen
Hongshou 陳洪綬 (1598-1652). For the influence
of Chen Hongshou prints on bamboo carving,
see Wen C.Fong and J.C.Y.Watt, Possessing the
Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum,
Taipei, New York, 1996, pp.464-467. For brush pots
carved with similar motifs, see one from the Simon
Kwan collection, included in the exhibition Ming and
Qing Bamboo, Hong Kong, 2000, no.35; another
in the collection of B.S.McElney, is illustrated by
Ip Yee and L.C.S.Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving,
Hong Kong, 1978, vol.1, pl.35. See also a brush pot
carved with two ladies reading together in a garden
setting, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum,
first half of the 17th century, illustrated by Chu-Tsing
Li and J.C.Y.Watt, The Chinese Scholar’s Studio:
Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, New York,
1987, no.55.
108

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE CHINESE ART | 169