Page 14 - Chinese Decorative Arts: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 55, no. 1 (Summer, 1997)

Brush Holder
Silver vessels were also produced during A seal-shaped inscription reading "Qianlong
Qing dynasty, Qianlongperiod the Song period, while crowns, belts, boots, and nian zhi" (made during the Qianlong reign) is
(1736-95)
Silver masks for corpses were made in silver and in carved into the bottom of this brush holder,
H. 6 in. (15.2 cm) gold during the Liao dynasty, which appar- marking it as one of the rare examples of
Lent Florence and Herbert ently valued such precious materials more than Qing-dynasty silver in purely Chinese style
by
Irving
did the Song. Silver and gold works from the preserved outside the national collections of
rior to the Tang dynasty, bronze, jade, Yuan dynasty onward are rare, and it is gen- Beijing and Taiwan. The deep carving of the
and lacquer were the most highly prized erally presumed that many were melted down. design parallels that of lacquer and bamboo,
materials, and silver and gold were used only The production of silver objects in the Qing illustrating both the ties between craftsmen
sporadically, primarily for inlay. Close ties period, particularly during the eighteenth cen- working in different materials this period
during
of
among China, Persia, and the regions north- tury, was stimulated by the export trade to and the possible adaptation silversmithing
west of India developed during the fifth and Europe and the United States. Most of the shapes to the taste of the scholar class.
sixth centuries and led to the introduction of were copies of Western silver, but the decora- Images of scholar-officials at their leisure
vessels and utensils of gold and of silver, which tion was often derived from traditional Chinese in an elaborate garden cover the surface of
were frequently during the subsequent motifs. Some items, such as this brush holder, the brush holder. In one scene three men prac-
emulated
Tang dynasty. were made for the home market. tice calligraphy around a table holding ink
sticks, an ink stone, and other writing imple-
ments, while a fourth looks on from his perch
on a rock. In the foreground there is a minia-
ture tree in a tray (orpenjing, better known in
the West today by the Japanese term bonsai).
In another scene (not shown) six men-three
standing and three seated-practice calligra-
phy around a table, while nearby five standing
gentlemen look at a hanging scroll. A solitary
figure fishing in a boat on a turbulent stream is
also depicted on this elaborately carved vessel.
Elegant literati gatherings were common-
place in the lives of Chinese scholar-officials
and were often recorded in paintings and lit-
erature and alluded to in the decorative arts.
Such meetings could be casual, among friends,
or more formal, such as those of poetry soci-
eties or those held to celebrate special events
-the departure of a colleague for a new
position in the government bureaucracy, the
completion of a new studio on one's estate,
or a sixtieth birthday. Often the parties had
overtones of famous historic gatherings, like
that held by the calligrapher Wang Xizhi
(A.D. 321-379) and forty-one other officials at
the Orchid Pavilion in 353, or the Elegant
Gathering in the Western Garden attended by
in
Wang Shen and sixteen colleagues Kaifeng
in 1087. While it is not possible identify the
to
specific party depicted on the brush holder,
the relatively small number of figures suggests
an allusion to the Gathering in the Western
Garden. Like the meeting in the Orchid
Pavilion, this famous event was immortalized
in literature and the decorative arts.
DPL

I3