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拍品专文
The scene depicted on the current brush pot is inspired by 'Three laughs at Tiger Brook', which tells the story of the recluse monk Huiyuan, who unwittingly crosses the Tiger Brook when sending Tao Yuanming and Lu Xiujing off after their visit. The same subject matter can be found on another jade brush pot carved with a Qianlong imperial poem describing the story in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of Ch'ing Court, Taipei, 1997, pp. 168-9, no. 53, and on a white screen, illustrated in ibid, pp. 204-205, no. 71.
The present brush pot is an excellent example of the best jade carvings of the 18th century. The composition, comprised of scenes of immortals in an ethereal landscape deftly demarcated by rocks or cliffs, elegantly unfolds like a scroll painting when the viewer turns the brush pot. The lapidary has utilised the material to its best advantage by leaving some areas unadorned to showcase the evenness of the material while incorporating the russet inclusions to enhance a sense of movement.
Only a few other white jade brush pots with similar scenes and raised ruyi feet are known in international and private collections, and the present brush pot is amongst the largest in private hands. Compare to a smaller example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 204-5, no. 167; a larger example illustrated in Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 112. (19.5 cm. diam.); another of more celadon tone and heavier mottling, from the collection of T.B. Kitson, sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 329; and a fourth example formerly in the collection of Heber R. Bishop, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2009, lot 251.
Ernest James Wythes, CBE (1868-1949) was a benefactor of the churches in Essex, and whose collection of forty lots of Qing porcelain and some earlier wares were sold at Christie’s London, 21 November 1935, see R. Davids and Dominic Jellinek, Provenance, 2011, p. 453.
The present brush pot is an excellent example of the best jade carvings of the 18th century. The composition, comprised of scenes of immortals in an ethereal landscape deftly demarcated by rocks or cliffs, elegantly unfolds like a scroll painting when the viewer turns the brush pot. The lapidary has utilised the material to its best advantage by leaving some areas unadorned to showcase the evenness of the material while incorporating the russet inclusions to enhance a sense of movement.
Only a few other white jade brush pots with similar scenes and raised ruyi feet are known in international and private collections, and the present brush pot is amongst the largest in private hands. Compare to a smaller example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 42 - Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 204-5, no. 167; a larger example illustrated in Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 112. (19.5 cm. diam.); another of more celadon tone and heavier mottling, from the collection of T.B. Kitson, sold at Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lot 329; and a fourth example formerly in the collection of Heber R. Bishop, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 16 September 2009, lot 251.
Ernest James Wythes, CBE (1868-1949) was a benefactor of the churches in Essex, and whose collection of forty lots of Qing porcelain and some earlier wares were sold at Christie’s London, 21 November 1935, see R. Davids and Dominic Jellinek, Provenance, 2011, p. 453.