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Lot Essay
The master carver Gu Jue, whose studio name is Zong Yu, was a native of Jiangsu province and was active during the Kangxi period. Gu's renowned style is characterised by carvings in high relief and attention to details. Figures and mountain-landscape themes were among his favoured topics.
An example of a bamboo brush pot dated to the Kangxi period and carved with a Zong Yu seal, though the style is slightly different, is in the Seattle Art Museum and illustrated by Ip Yee and Lawrence C.S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, p. 89, col. pl. 19. Compare, also, the brush pot dated to the early Qing period, signed Jiyou zhongxia Gu Zongyu zhi, 'Made by Gu Zongyu in the Summer of Jiyou year', in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, p. 55, no. 26.
An example of a bamboo brush pot dated to the Kangxi period and carved with a Zong Yu seal, though the style is slightly different, is in the Seattle Art Museum and illustrated by Ip Yee and Lawrence C.S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part I, Hong Kong, 1978, p. 89, col. pl. 19. Compare, also, the brush pot dated to the early Qing period, signed Jiyou zhongxia Gu Zongyu zhi, 'Made by Gu Zongyu in the Summer of Jiyou year', in the Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in The Palace Museum Collection of Elite Carvings, Beijing, 2002, p. 55, no. 26.