A FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL BAMBOO BRUSHREST

Details

A FINELY CARVED IMPERIAL BAMBOO BRUSHREST
QING DYNASTY, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

Superbly carved from the bamboo root as elegantly twisting pine branches issuing delicately detailed needle clusters, the branches finely detailed using the natural markings and knots in the bamboo to depict the bark and boles of the pine, all supported on a fine openwork zitan stand carved as two confronting phoenix
The brushrest, 3 1/8 in. (8 cm.) wide, stand

Provenance

Messrs. Spink & Son, 1979

Literature

Bamboo and Wood Carvings of China and the East, Spink & Son, 1979 catalogue, no. 304

Exhibited

Bamboo and Wood Carvings of China and the East, Spink & Son, 1979, Catalogue, no. 304

Lot Essay

The outstanding workmanship of both the brushrest and the stand almost certainly indicate that these were products of the Imperial workshops in Beijing. Compare with a similarly decorated waterpot dated to the early Qing dynasty in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, no.16.

More from A Fine Collection of Chinese Bamboo Carvings from the Personal Collection of Mr and Mrs Gerard Hawthorn

View All