Page 45 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

PROPERTY OF AN ENGLISH LADY Beyond the exemplary carving, which works so well on this small
scale brushpot where the constrictions of the narrow working
43 surface make the depiction of scale so difficult, the lapidary has also
A PALE CELADON JADE RETICULATED BRUSHPOT made exceptional use of a stone that has some minor faults. The
18th Century uneven tonality in some areas has been cleverly hidden by judicious
The slender cylindrical vessel deeply carved and reticulated in a undercutting and intergration of fault lines into the design. The light
continuous scene around the sides and continuing in low relief on the still filters through in a most pleasing manner, highlighting the three-
base, the rim gently rounded, brilliantly carved with an unusual scene dimensionality of the scene.
depicting two elderly, presumably Daoist, scholars and attendant
pointing at a flying crane above which appears to have been released For a very similar carved and reticulated brushpot bearing an imperial
from a wooden pen lodged in the rockwork behind them, whilst poem and depicting a gathering of ‘Five Elders’, see Sotheby’s, Hong
nearby another scholar with a water vessel at his feet directs a young Kong, Important Chinese Art from the Collection of Sir Quo-Wei Lee,
attendant to scoop fresh water from the base of a gushing waterfall, Part II, 8 October 2019, lot 118, where comparison is drawn with
all set in a busy many-layered rockwork setting with a small fenced another jade brushpot with a Qianlong mark exhibited in A Romance
building with a stepped pathway and a large pavilion with a bridge with Jade from the De An Tang Collection, Palace Museum, Bejing,
beside another waterfall, all dotted with various craggy pine, a large 2004, Cat. no13.
wutong tree and other hanging foliage.
4 3/4in (12cm) high Other 18th century white or whitish-celadon jade brushpots intricately
carved with Doaist scenes are recorded, including one formerly
in the collection of Heber Bishop, and now in the collection of the
$10,000 - 15,000 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, www. metmuseum.org. /
Jades, accession number 02.418.209; another with immortals, formerly
十八世紀 青白玉雕山水人物筆筒 in the famous Kitsen Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 17th
September 2008, lot 329; and another sold at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong,
Provenance 7 April 2015, lot 3643.
Oriental Art Gallery, London, 1996
For another rare reticulated small brushpot of similar size but of
來源 rounded rectangular shape rather than the cylinder of our example, see
Oriental Art Gallery, 倫敦, 1996年 Christie’s, New York, 22 March 2013, lot 1357. It too has a continuous
mountain setting with Daoist figures.

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