A FINE BAMBOO BRUSHPOT

18TH CENTURY

Details

A FINE BAMBOO BRUSHPOT
18TH CENTURY
Well carved in high relief and in openwork with two scenes of scholars in a bamboo grove, playing qi and admiring a scroll whilst drinking wine prepared and served by various attendants, the outermost bamboo canes undercut to stand free of the background, the two scenes separated by pine trees and rockwork, the wood of a rich dark brown tone, the base and top in hardwood
6¾ in. (17 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The decorative theme, The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, is based on a group of famous scholars in the 3rd century AD who reputedly met frequently in a bamboo grove to drink wine and discuss literature. It was a popular design motif in the decorative arts in China, and was used to good advantage on bamboo where the material could be successfully undercut, as on the present brushpot, and on another of similar design and size included in the exhibition, Possessing the Past; Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996, p. 466, pl. 271.

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