WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)

Porcelain brushrests of this type were made in two designs, with either three or five peaks; the three-peaked variety was perhaps the most fortuitous as the shape is fundamentally that of the Chinese character shan meaning 'mountain'. Compare two Wanli-marked blue and white three-peak brushrests, the first in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), vol. 35, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 206, no. 190; the second illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 734, together with a wucai version, pl. 733. See, also, the Wanli-marked wucai three-peak reticulated brushrest sold in these rooms, 20 March 2001, lot 223.