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Lot Essay
The poem ‘Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup’ (Yinzhong baxian ge) was written by the famous Tang-dynasty poet Du Fu (AD 712-770), who, like many Tang-dynasty men of letters, derived considerable enjoyment, and, apparently, inspiration from drinking wine. In his poem he chose to celebrate the drinking habits of other literary men of his time, including He Zhizhang, Li Jin, Li Shizhi, Cui Zongzhi, Su Jin, Li Bai, Zhang Xu and Jiao Sui. The poem provided the subject for paintings at least as early as the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), and appeared as decoration on porcelain in the Qing dynasty Shunzhi reign (1644-1661), although it was particularly popular in the Kangxi reign.
The present cup depicts one of the eight ‘immortals’, the scholar Jiao Sui. He is shown seated at a table with three other scholars, seemingly having imbibed enough wine to raise his arms dramatically, making a point to the others gathered around him. The back of the cup is inscribed with the verse from Du Fu's poem corresponding to Jiao Sui followed by a seal shang:
Jiao Sui needs five gallons [of wine] before he can become erudite,
Then the loftiness of his rhetoric amazes those vigorously debating in the four halls.
This cup, and the following lot (1036) which depicts another of the ‘Eight Immortals’, Su Jin, would likely have been part of a set of eight, one for each ‘immortal’, however existing Kangxi cups of this design are quite rare. A related blue and white example to the present lot, with Jiao Sui seated at the table with his arms crossed, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1896.
The present cup depicts one of the eight ‘immortals’, the scholar Jiao Sui. He is shown seated at a table with three other scholars, seemingly having imbibed enough wine to raise his arms dramatically, making a point to the others gathered around him. The back of the cup is inscribed with the verse from Du Fu's poem corresponding to Jiao Sui followed by a seal shang:
Jiao Sui needs five gallons [of wine] before he can become erudite,
Then the loftiness of his rhetoric amazes those vigorously debating in the four halls.
This cup, and the following lot (1036) which depicts another of the ‘Eight Immortals’, Su Jin, would likely have been part of a set of eight, one for each ‘immortal’, however existing Kangxi cups of this design are quite rare. A related blue and white example to the present lot, with Jiao Sui seated at the table with his arms crossed, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 December 2009, lot 1896.