A FINE BAMBOO CARVING OF A PAIR OF PERSIMMON

Details

A FINE BAMBOO CARVING OF A PAIR OF PERSIMMON
QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Finely carved and detailed in the round as one large and one smaller plump fruit growing on a gnarled branch, with naturalistically rendered four-leafed calyx and curled delicately veined leaves issuing from the ends of the branch and resting on the sides of the fruit
3 1/2 in. (9.9 cm.) wide

Provenance

Acquired in London in the early 1960's

Lot Essay

Bamboo carvings of fruits in the round are thought to have been used as brushrests or paperweights and the significance of persimmon, shi, in Chinese, being a homophone for market, shi and business, shi, and thoughts si, would have made this an auspicious item for the scholar's or merchant's desk.

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