KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

Details

AN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND WHITE-DECORATED CELADON-GROUND BRUSH POT
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)
The exterior is decorated in relief in underglaze blue and white on a soft celadon ground with five different representations of Kuixing, the demon manifestation of the god of Literature, shown running as he holds various objects including a brush, an ingot, a prunus branch and a vase containing a prunus spray. The rim and the interior are white.
7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) diam., 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Chait Galleries, New York, May 1984.

Exhibited

Cincinnati, Ohio, The Taft Museum, Cincinnati Collects 5000 Years of Chinese Art, 28 February - 20 April 1997, no. 11.

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Lot Essay

The god of Successful Examinations and Literature, Kuixing is generally depicted standing on a fish, tortoise or dragon, with one hand raised holding a pen and the other holding an ingot. In a reference to the two characters of his name, gui ('ghost'), and dou ('ladle' or 'dipper'), the god is represented as a demon or ghost.
Compare the similar brush pot, also dated Kangxi period, but with the addition of copper red in the decoration, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Seventeenth-Century Blue and White and Copper-Red and Their Predecessors, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1997, no. 55.

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