Lot 28. A very rare carved biscuit porcelain brushpot, bitong, Daoguang seal mark and of the period (1821-1850). Estimate HK$ 400,000 - 600,000 (€46,000 - 69,000). Unsold. Photo: Bonhams.
Provenance: S.Marchant & Son, London, circa 1960
Sydney L. Moss private collection
Notes: The inscription reads:
時在仲夏寫於昌江珠山客次書為叱石成羊圖
which may be translated as:
'written in mid-summer while being a guest at Zhushan in Changjiang, inscribed for the painting entitled 'Chi shi cheng yang tu' (Turning the Stones into Goats by Shouting)'
The scene on the brushpot refers to a Daoist legend recorded in the Shenxian zhuan (神仙傳) or Biography of Immortals, by Ge Hong (284-363), which tells of a young shepherd called Huang Chuping from Danxi, Jinhua, who disappeared whilst herding his sheep. His elder brother Huang Chuqi searched all over for him, to no avail, until forty years later he heard from a Daoist priest about a shepherd on Jinhua Mountain who was indeed his long-lost brother. When the two brothers met again, Chuping explained that he had followed an Immortal and had become an Immortal himself. Chuqi then asked about his flock, and Chuping said that they were in front of the cave. Chuping looked but saw only white rocks, until he happened to shout, at which the rocks suddenly became sheep. Chuqi realised that his brother was indeed an Immortal, and the phrase chi shi cheng yang (turning stones into goats by shouting) came to be used to describe miraculous events.
In its carving style and subject matter, the brushpot is closely related to a group of carved porcelain brushpots attributed to the master craftsman Chen Guozhi, who worked at Jingdezhen during the early 19th century. Both in their style and attribution, the works of Chen Guozhi and other masters such as Wang Bingrong, represent a blurring of the distinctions between artist and craftsman, and the signatures found on a number of such pieces serve to claim a position for the potter closer to that of a recognisable artist rather than as an anonymous craftsman. Indeed it is perhaps possible to discern the hand of Chen Guozhi in the inscription on the present lot. The writing style is very similar to that on a snuff bottle in the James and Julie Li Collection, which also records the artist sojourning at Zhushan. See H.Moss, V.Graham and K.B.Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle: The J&J Collection, New York, 1993, pl.251.
It is extremely unusual to find a brushpot such as the present lot with an Imperial reign seal. One example with a brownish-yellow glaze, Daoguang seal mark and of the period, from the Art Museum, Chinese University of Hong Kong, is illustrated by T.Miller and H.Hui, Elegance in Relief: Carved Porcelain from Jingdezhen of the 19th to Early 20th Centuries, Hong Kong, 2006, no.6; see also no.46 for a yellow-glazed example currently in the Anthony K.W. Cheung collection; and a four-character Daoguang mark can be found on a related brownish-yellow-glazed brushpot imitating bamboo, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Shanghai, 1999, no.49. See also a brownish-yellow brushpot, from the Baur Collection dated to 1848, illustrated by Miller and Hui, ibid., no.3., which shows a similarly exuberant yet detailed treatment of the incised mountains.
For two other examples from the Daoguang period, combining the Chen Guozhi signature and the Daoguang reign period, see a turquoise-glazed brushpot with the seal mark Da Qing Daoguang Chen Guozhi zhi in the Baur Collection, and another brownish-yellow brushpot in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, with a kaishu markDaoguang dingwei qiu jiuyue Shenbao shu Chen Guozhi zuo, dated to 1847, illustrated by Miller and Hui, ibid., nos.17 and 2.
Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 10:30 HKT, HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY