AN INSCRIBED LINGBI WATERPOT QING DYNASTY

the slightly lustrous stone of irregular outline perforated with various openings above the naturalistically hollowed-out cavity, the reverse carved in low relief with a well-preserved square cartouche enclosing the characters Qianlong xiwan ('plaything from the Qianlong period'), and two further inscriptions reading Xushi di shiwu shi ('fifteenth rock of the Xu family') and a patron's mark, Xiangshi Ren zhi ('acquired by the Master of Rocks Taming'), the dense grained stone with an exceptional sonorous quality, wood stand

See a scholar's rock with a related inscription signed Xiangshi master of the Xu family, dated to 1877, recently sold in our London rooms, 11th November 2015, lot 161.