Live Auction 1877Fine Chinese Ceramics, Jades and Works of Art
**A RARE AND FINELY CARVED BAMBOO AND IVORY CYLINDRICAL INCENSE HOLDER
Lot 16PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION 

**A RARE AND FINELY CARVED BAMBOO AND IVORY CYLINDRICAL INCENSE HOLDER

SIGNED SAN SONG, 17TH CENTURY

Closed19 September 2007

Price Realised

USD 37,000

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**A RARE AND FINELY CARVED BAMBOO AND IVORY CYLINDRICAL INCENSE HOLDER
SIGNED SAN SONG, 17TH CENTURY
The sides finely carved and pierced with numerous scholars and attendants at various pursuits in a wooded mountain setting, with one oval seal of the artist reading, San Song, the ivory top with central aperture to accomodate the cylindrical incense stick holder that centers the ivory stand
8 in. (20.3 cm.) high

Purchased from Ma Chiu Man, Lok Yu Teahouse, Hong Kong, c. 1968.

Specialist note

The two-character signature, San Song, is the alias of the renowned bamboo carver Zhu Zhizheng, who was primarily active during the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods, although some records indicate that he may have worked into the early Qing dynasty. See Ip Yee and Laurence C.S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part II, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, pp. 60-2, for a further discussion on the artist.

A signed brushpot in the Hong Kong Museum of Art is illustrated op. cit., Part I, p. 204, no. 37. See, also, an ink tray by the artist dated to the Wanli to Chongzhen periods illustrated by S. Kwan, Ming and Qing Bamboo, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2000, no. 10.