Page 80 - Christies Asia Week 2015 Chinese Works of Art

2050

2051 ANOTHER PROPERTY
2050
78 A PALE GREY-GREEN SONGHUA STONE RECTANGULAR INK STONE
AND FITTED BOX
19TH CENTURY

The ink stone is of striated, pale green color. The top is carved with
a shaped grinding surface conforming in shape at the top to the scroll
border that separates it from the well. The reverse is carved with
a fourteen-character inscription followed by a signature, Xitang
Mao Geng, within a rectangular recess. The Songhua stone box is
of amber-ochre color, and the cover is inlaid in the center with a
mottled burgundy-colored stone panel carved with the tiny fgure
of a scholar having descended stairs between wooded hills in a
landscape, below the moon and bamboo in one corner, all within an
outer border of angular scroll.
Ink stone 6º in. (15.8 cm.) long, box 6æ in. (17.1 cm.) long

$12,000-18,000

Mao Geng (d. 1861), whose hao or sobriquet was Xitang, was a well-
known calligrapher and carving artist active during the Daoguang and
Xianfeng period. The inscription on the present ink stone is a couplet by
Mao Geng describing the joy of studying books and writing.

清十九世紀 毛庚銘松花石長方硯

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, AUSTIN, TEXAS
2051
A SMALL BAMBOO MINIATURE LANDSCAPE
18TH-19TH CENTURY

Possibly a brush rest, the carving depicts a gathering of scholars in a
wooded retreat; four are shown kneeling by a stream, while four look
on, and two others are seen seated above in a pavilion.
3¬ in. (19.4 cm.) long, wood stand

$6,000-8,000

PROVENANCE:

Acquired in Asia prior to 1978, and thence by descent.

清十八/十九世紀 袖珍竹雕文人雅集圖山子