Lot Essay
The theme of a pine tree and the quality of the carving of this rare rest or weight are similar to those found on a very unusual ivory carving of comparable size (13.5 cm. long) in the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, no. 116, as well as in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, no. 139. Like the present example it is double-sided and is described respectively as an arm rest and a paperweight. However, it is also described as having multiple uses. On one side there is a water receptacle or brushwasher at one end, while on the reverse there is a hinged cover that lifts up to reveal a shallow compartment. In the first publication this cover, which has a framed circular cut out on the underside, is called a mirror stand, inferring that it might have held a small mirror, and that this piece might have been for the use of a lady rather than for a scholar.