AN EXCEPTIONAL INSCRIBED BAMBOO STAFF QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

skilfully carved in the round to simulate a gnarled bamboo shoot with protruding nodes, four of the internodes inscribed with an eight-character inscription reading wu lao fengtou shang bu jiji ('On the Five Peaks the Centuries go unrecorded'), the surface accentuated with ink splashes and a warm honey-brown patina

Oriental Works of Art, Gerard Hawthorn Ltd., London, 1999, cat. no. 86.

This outstanding bamboo staff is exceptional for the beauty of its natural form and its rich patina, of an ethereal quality as if taken from a classical painting. The inscription wu lao fengtou shang bu jiji ('On the Five Peaks the Centuries go unrecorded') may refer to the Five Sacred Mountains, or a specifically Daoist reference to the site of an ancient mountaintop temple.