Asian Art in London
29 October - 7 November 2009
1. A Zitan Brush Pot
16th century
The brush pot of slightly flaring cylindrical form, carved with an integral stand and three short bracket feet. Decorated in shallow to medium relief on the exterior with a continuous scene, depicting five equestrian scholars and two boy attendants crossing a bridge in a rocky valley growing with verdant pine trees. The key pattern around the mouth rim inlaid in silver.
14.5 cm. high; 12 cm. diam.
In the Analects, Confucius once asked his disciples what would be their aspiration. While all of them answered in respect to their plans in government, Zeng Dian, an elderly follower, said he only wished to have an enjoyable outing in the late spring in the company of five or six friends, bathing in the river, enjoying the breeze, and singing on the way home (Analects, Chapter 11). Confucius sighed at this, and agreed with him. It is one of the rare moments in the Analects where we see the internal conflicts Confucius had. While he travelled from state to state trying to promote the proper way of government, he longed for a peaceful and quiet life, a life in which one can seek inner contemplation without the worries of the world. However, he also knew that without proper government, such a world of peace could not be in existence, therefore he had to carry on his work. It is a theme that resonates with scholars down the centuries, and a poetic imagery that evokes an ideal society of moral perfection, where everyone has his place, and everyone is content.
The subject of spring outing was popular in the Tang and Five Dynasties. A painting in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, by the Later Liang (907-923) artist Zhao Yan depicts eight scholars on horsebacks enjoying a spring outing. The scholars on the current brush pot are depicted wearing similar style clothing, an allusion to this utopia theme of antiquity.
This is a very fine example of the ‘laboured while being elegant' piece appropriate for an Emperor's studio. The subject is suitably evocative. The material used here is one of the most expensive types of zitan, the so-called ‘golden-speckle', owing to the brownish gold specks in its vein. The carving style was masterfully executed to a painterly feel, without a feeling of over-decoration.
The carver used the expensive material indulgently and carved an integral stand, a very typical construction for zitan brush pot made for the court. Two late Ming zitan brush pots in the Palace Museum, Beijing, have similar carved integral stands, and one also has silver-wire inlay around the rim (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Hong Kong, 2002, nos. 17 and 22 - figs. 2 and 3)
The carving style on the brush pot is closely related to that of carved cinnabar lacquer produced for the court, with very similar treatments to its rockwork and figures. A carved cinnabar lacquer box depicting five elders crossing a bridge in the Palace Museum collection is a good comparison in style (illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Diaoqi, Beijing, Wenwu Chubanshe, 1985, pl.128 and 129). However, while the compositions on cinnabar lacquer pieces are generally more static, on the current brush pot it has an added sense of energy and vitality. The diagonal lines of the rockwork and the movement of the figures and horses are reminiscent of those seen on bamboo carvings. The carver also skilfully used very high relief to create different layers, so there is more three-dimensionality. This type of deep carving is more commonly seen on bamboo carvings rather than carved lacquer. It is possible that the carver of the current brush pot also worked in other media such as bamboo and lacquer, which was a fairly common practice in the Ming and Qing period. Pu Zhongqian of the Late Ming, for example, was said to carve bamboo, lacquer, and rhinoceros-horn as well as jade.
