Lot Essay
The technique used to carve this elegant bamboo knife and sheath is known as zhuhuang (literally, 'bamboo yellow', but meaning bamboo veneer). The technique involved stripping the interior surface of the bamboo cortex, soaking it and pressing it flat, and then applying it as a veneer to the base material of the object. A second layer was then carved and superimposed over the first layer, thereby creating a design of contrasting colors. It was time-consuming and required extraordinary technical skill. A bamboo and ivory knife and sheath of comparable size and shape executed in this technique with a design of lotus scroll and described as a knife for cutting paper is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, no. 171. (Fig.1) See, also, the very similar knife in the collection of Dr. Ip Yee, illustrated by Wang Shixiang and Wan-go Weng, Bamboo Carving of China, China Institute in America, New York, 1983, no. 44, where it is dated Qianlong period.