Page 316 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

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A RARE LARGE INSCRIBED ‘ORCHID PAVILION’
DUAN INKSTONE
SONG-MING DYNASTY (960-1644)
Of rectangular form, the upper surface of the stone is carved
with a smooth palette, one end with a depression forming the
ink-well, all within a raised border, one vertical side incised to
depict a scholar seated in a pavilion observing fellow companions
in various pursuits, beside a flowing stream detailed with floating
wine cups. The scene continues on one short vertical side, with
the remaining sides inscribed with a double archaistic dragon
within a circle followed by a long text describing the literary
gathering at the Orchid Pavilion. The underside hollowed with a
collector’s sealmark, Daiyin chuanbao fangshi jiawan, surrounded by cups, and those who failed to compose any poetry at all, paid a forfeit
further inscription, Baotan Zhai Zhencang, and Ye Zhishen jizeng.
10 …/”ÿ (25.5 cm.) long, Japanese wood box
HK$150,000-250,000 US$20,000-32,000
The name Ye Zhishen inscribed on the base of the inkstone is an
important bronze collector and epigraphist whose dates were given as
1779-1863, cf. Zhongguo Meishujia Renmin Cidian, Shanghai renmin
chubanshe, 1985, p. 1216. The inscription Baotan Zhai Zhencang,
‘Precious collection of the Baotan Studio indicates that this was a gift
from Ye Zhishen to a person whoes studio name is Baotan Zhai.
The text is known as the ‘Lanting Preface’, originally written by the
greatest of all calligraphers, Wang Xizhi (circa 307-365). The Lanting
(Orchid Pavilion) gathering took place in the ninth year of the Yonghe
reign of the Eastern Jin dynasty (353). A total of forty-two scholars
were invited to the Orchid Pavilion near Shanyin, Zhejiang province,
for the Spring Purification Festival where a scholarly game took place.
The participants were tasked to compose poems having each been
given an initial character. Those who produced two poems had to drink
one cup of wine whilst those who only composed one poem drank two
of consuming three cups.
⾿攽빋᜴憘蓎㴇嬧墘ḛ捔ᛊ柀
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