AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE DALI MARBLE-INSET HUANGHUALI TABLE SCREEN AND BRUSH HOLDER

This extremely rare Dali marble-inset huanghuali table screen with integral brush holder is the precursor to the brush pot. There appears to be only one other published example of a table screen with integral brush holder excavated along with other scholar’s objects in 1966 from the Wanli period (1573-1619) tomb of Zhu Shoucheng, illustrated by C. Evarts in Dateable Chinese Furniture: Reference and Analysis, Shanghai, 2026, p. 71, no. 1620.17, in the Shanghai Museum.

The discovery of this group of desk articles in the tomb of Zhu Shoucheng is of considerable importance to the study of scholar’s objects. Dated to the Wanli period through a deed recovered from the adjacent tomb of his wife, the group can be securely assigned to no later than the early seventeenth century. While many scholar’s implements survive, their simple forms and lack of reliable dated inscriptions have hindered the establishment of a stylistic chronology. These excavated pieces provide crucial benchmarks from which a more reliable chronological framework can be developed.

Ming-period ceramic examples of table screens with integral brush holder drew inspiration from their wood counterparts. A blue and white Wanli period brush-holder table screen illustrated by B. Macguire, Four Centuries of Blue & White: The Frelinghuysen Collection of Chinese and Japanese Export Porcelain, London, 2023, p. 174, no. 136 is constructed in a similar manner with a central screen joining a tall framework supported by shaped standing spandrels and with three apertures for holding brushes on one side. (Fig 1)