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Lot Essay
The present example is carved out of a single block of zitan wood, which is highly unusual among zitan brush pots, as most examples are hollowed in the centre of the base and inserted with a separate wood plug to avoid cracking of the material. The master bamboo carver Gu Jue, whose designation was known as Zong Yu, was a native of Jiangsu province and was active during the Kangxi period. No other bamboo-inlaid wood brush pot bearing his signature is known.
There are only very few extant bamboo brush pots signed by Gu Jue. One was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1293. Another is in the Seattle Art Museum see, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, p. 89, col. pl. 19. Compare also the brush pot signed Jiyou zhongxia Gu Zongyu zhi, ‘Made by Gu Zongyu in the Summer of jiyou year’, in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Forbidden City Publishing House, Beijing, 2002, p. 55, no. 26.
There are only very few extant bamboo brush pots signed by Gu Jue. One was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 May 2005, lot 1293. Another is in the Seattle Art Museum see, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, p. 89, col. pl. 19. Compare also the brush pot signed Jiyou zhongxia Gu Zongyu zhi, ‘Made by Gu Zongyu in the Summer of jiyou year’, in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Forbidden City Publishing House, Beijing, 2002, p. 55, no. 26.