Page 177 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17
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The shape of the present teapot is referred to as Compare also a ‘stone-dipper’ teapot by Qu Yingshao
shipiao (stone-dipper) in Chinese. In traditional Yixing from the Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, similarly
connoisseurship, this classic shape is also commonly known incised with bamboo and calligraphy, illustrated in Terese
as Ziye-form, after Qu Yinshao who innovated this iconic form. Tse Bartholomew, I-Hsing Ware, China House Gallery, China
The versatile form, with its extended at surface space, was Institute of America, New York, 1977, cat. no. 19; and a closely
perfectly proportioned for the carefully positioned engraved related teapot incised by Qu Yingshao with bamboo and
calligraphy and painting. Another teapot of this form, made willow, from the collection of Max Robertson, exhibited in
in collaboration with Qiao Zhongxi, formerly in Zhang Hong’s Documentary Chinese Works of Art. In Scholar’s Taste, Sydney
Bishan Huguang Collection and now preserved in the Bei Shan L. Moss Ltd., London, 1983, cat. no. 91. Another teapot bearing
Tang collection, illustrated in Li Jingkang and Zhang Hong, the Ziye signature, but of a di erent shape, in the Palace
A Pictorial Study of the Teapots of Yangxian, Hong Kong, Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Wang Jianhua, ed., Yixing
1937, p. 37, was included in the exhibition The Bei Shan Tang Zisha Wares in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2009, pl. 64.
Legacy. Yixing Zisha Stoneware, Art Museum, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2015, cat. no. 28. A For other Qu Yingshao teapots, see a similar example from
teapot made by Shen Xi and inscribed by Qu, is illustrated in the collection of Paul Moss, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st
K.S. Lo, The Stoneware of Yixing from the Ming Period to the June 2017, lot 511; and one of a di erent shape, formerly in
Present Day, London, 1986, pl. 38, together with one made by the collections of Pang Yuanji and Thomas Lee, and later in
Yang Pengnian and incised by Qu, pl. 39; see a further teapot the collections of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat, was sold
made by the two together, published in Liang Baiquan, Yixing in our Hong Kong rooms, 2nd June 2016, lot 31; and another
Purple Clay Ware, Beijing and Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 63; as well was sold in our Paris rooms, 15th December 2016, lot 173. A
as another example, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy further ‘stone-dipper’ teapot, from the George and Mary Bloch
Sha, sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 24th November 2013, lot Collection was included in the exhibitions Yixing Pottery, Hong
103. Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 62, and Arts
from the Scholar’s Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, cat. no. 107, and
was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 23rd October 2005, lot 135.
The inscription of the present teapot suggests that the carved
bamboo design was inspired by the painting of Gui Wenxiu.
Gui Changshi (1573-1644), zi Wenxiu, hao Jiaan, a native of
Kunshan, Jiangsu province, was a painter, calligrapher, poet,
and seal carver of the Ming dynasty. He was a master in
bamboo painting and renowned for depicting bamboo in the
wind and rain.
IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 175
