Asian Art in London
29 October - 7 November 2009
11. An Ivory Wrist-rest
18th century
The rectangular wrist-rest is concave on the front and carved in shallow relief with Shoulao holding a scroll in his hands. The reverse is recessed and carved in shallow to high relief to depict the Nine Elders of Xiangshan (Fragrant Mountain) and their attendants in a pine strewn landscape with a wooden bridge in the near-ground, and buildings hidden in clouds in the far-ground.
21.7 cm. long; 3.5 cm. wide
The Nine Elders of Xianshan were a group of scholars, led by the poet Bai Juyi (AD 772–846), who lived the life of hermits at the end of Tang dynasty in protest of the corrupt regime of the day.
Bai’s poem The Xiangshan Temple described his life of self-exile:
“The empty room is silent and the old man is leisurely,
Flocks of birds and trailing clouds, go forth and back.
Home-brew fills the bottle; books fill the shelves –
I have moved half of my belongings to Xiangshan!”
The image of the Nine Elders of Xiangshan is not only an idyllic scene of scholars enjoying the quiet life in nature, but also serves as a reminder for a sovereign to be mindful in the affairs of government, lest his subjects become disillusioned self-exiles. The Fragrant Mountain is situated in Luoyang and overlooks the famous Longmen caves with its magnificent Buddhist stone carvings, hence it also alludes to the escapist ideas in Buddhism.
The wrist rest is used to help stabilise the hand when writing small characters, normally with a concave side for the wrist to rest on. In the 18th century ivory became widely used for carving wrist rest and while the front is normally fairly plain, the reverse is often carved with elaborate decoration, showcasing the carver’s virtuosity in craftsmanship. A larger wrist rest of idenatical composition to the current piece is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum – Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 155, p. 189 – fig. 13. Compare also the wrist rests carved by the ivory carved Huang Zhenxiao in the National Palace Museum illustrated in Emperor Ch’ien-lung’s Grand Cultural Enterprise, I–43, p. 55.
