Compare this lot with a smaller (18.6 cm. diam.) zitan brushpot carved as a tree trunk, included in the Oriental Ceramics Society of Hong Kong 1986 exhibition, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 71. The present brushpot is exceptional for its size which suggests that it was either used for the storage of large brushes or small handscrolls. It would have required a large piece of the precious zitan wood to be carved and hollowed.