Lot 1306
1306
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘XU XUN QUELLING THE GHOST’ BRUSH POT
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘XU XUN QUELLING THE GHOST’ BRUSH POT
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Property from a European Family Collection
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘XU XUN QUELLING THE GHOST’ BRUSH POT

LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY

Details
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘XU XUN QUELLING THE GHOST’ BRUSH POT
LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY
The cylindrical brush pot is painted with a lively battle scene, depicting numerous demons in a river battling ghost hunters in a continuous landscape; all set amongst trees and rocks.
8 ¼ in. (20. 5 cm.) diam., box
Provenance
Max Müller (1867-1960), German Consul to Shanghai, and later Wuhan, during the late Qing period, who acquired the present lot in Shanghai around 1905-1908
By descent to Irmgard Müller-Doertenback (1909-2011)
Acquired by the present family prior to 1996

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Lot Essay

The decoration on the brush pot depicts the myth of the Daoist Immortal Xu Xun. He is shown among figures on a riverbank quelling demons in the river. Xu Xun was a celebrated Daoist priest of the Jin dynasty (265-420), who was fond of the techniques for attaining immortality. Having mastered the 'Daoist Magical Skills' (daofa), he was known in many mystical stories about his fights against dragons and killing of snakes to rid people of evil and demons. A brush pot of similar form and decoration to that of the present example is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Accession no. EA1978.2056.

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