Lot Essay
The fine quality of carving on this small brush pot is stylistically similar to that seen on a slightly smaller chenxiangmu cup (2 5/8 in. high) illustrated in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Chinese Decorative Arts, Summer 1997, p. 52, as well as to two larger (14 cm. high) chenxiangmu brush holders also carved around the sides with figures in a mountainous landscape setting that are in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing. One is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 44 - Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 21, no. 20; the other is illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, p. 100, no. 65.