Page 56 - SOtheby's Hong Kong Hawthorne Collection Scholar's Art May 2018

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A CARVED IVORY ‘SCHOLAR’ BRUSHPOT 十七至十八世紀 牙雕松蔭烹茶圖筆筒
17TH – 18TH CENTURY
supported on a countersunk base, carved in low relief with a
misty mountainous landscape, depicting a scholar seated on a
low stool and holding a ruyi sceptre, while his attendant brews
tea on a stove underneath a gnarled pine tree and a crane in
flight
14.6 cm, 5¾ in.
HK$ 80,000-120,000
US$ 10,200-15,300

This finely carved brushpot is notable for its delicately carved
relief decoration, which has enabled the carver to achieve a
painterly effect. The linearity of the carving of this piece and
the rendering of the contrasting textures, from the luxuriant
features of the landscape to the jagged rockwork and the loose
clothing of the figures, are characteristic of contemporary
woodblock illustrations.
An ivory brushpot carved in low-relief with scholars in
landscape is illustrated in S.E. Lucas, The Catalogue of Sasson
Chinese Ivories, vol. 3, London, 1950, pl. 689, together with
another related example, pl. 673. See also a brushpot carved
in a similar linear style with a scholar in a pavilion signed
Zhang Xihuang, published in Zhu mu ya jiao qi zhenshang
[Appreciation of Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Horn], Tainan,
1995, pl. 149.

54 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比