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Lot Essay
The inscription on this brush pot is the second part of Hou Chi Bi Fu (Ode to the Red Cliff) by the Song-dynasty poet Su Shi (Su Dongpo, 1037-1096), and the finely painted scene on the reverse represents an episode from the poem showing the poet on a tranquil boating trip by night. The two seals after the inscription probably read Er Yan and Jiang Xia and may represent names, however these individuals do not appear to have been recorded.
This subject was very popular during the Kangxi period and appears on a variety of high-quality blue and white wares, including brush pots, square-section vases, large ‘phoenix-tail vases’ and gu-form vases. The scenes depicted are generally from the First or Second Ode to the Red Cliff, and are generally accompanied by excerpts from the poem and sometimes followed by one or two seals. River scenes such as that on the current brush pot, depicting a group of scholars on a boat, often with a crane flying above, likely reference the episode when a crane flew over the poet’s boat in the evening. The constellation that appears at the top of the current scene is referenced by the wen zhang shan dou mark on the base.
A blue and white brush pot from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, also depicting a river scene from the Second Ode to the Red Cliff and with the same mark on the base, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2010, lot 957. Two other examples with a related scenes, inscriptions and marks, were sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2007, lot 324 and Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 March 1992, lot 691. An interesting gu-form vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, showing a related scene on the lower portion, with the inscription on the flared neck followed by two seals, one reading Jiang Xia, as on the current brush pot, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 36 – Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 39, no. 32.
This subject was very popular during the Kangxi period and appears on a variety of high-quality blue and white wares, including brush pots, square-section vases, large ‘phoenix-tail vases’ and gu-form vases. The scenes depicted are generally from the First or Second Ode to the Red Cliff, and are generally accompanied by excerpts from the poem and sometimes followed by one or two seals. River scenes such as that on the current brush pot, depicting a group of scholars on a boat, often with a crane flying above, likely reference the episode when a crane flew over the poet’s boat in the evening. The constellation that appears at the top of the current scene is referenced by the wen zhang shan dou mark on the base.
A blue and white brush pot from the Robert H. Blumenfield Collection, also depicting a river scene from the Second Ode to the Red Cliff and with the same mark on the base, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25 March 2010, lot 957. Two other examples with a related scenes, inscriptions and marks, were sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2007, lot 324 and Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 March 1992, lot 691. An interesting gu-form vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, showing a related scene on the lower portion, with the inscription on the flared neck followed by two seals, one reading Jiang Xia, as on the current brush pot, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 36 – Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 39, no. 32.