AN EXTREMELY RARE MOTHER-OF-PEARL-INLAID BLACK LACQUERED PORCELAIN BRUSHPOT QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD |

well potted with a cylindrical body rising from three feet, the exterior lacquered in black and exquisitely inlaid in mother-of-pearl with a continuous riverside landscape, depicting two scholars standing under a tall pine tree before a pavilion, in a distance an attendant carrying a sac walking towards them, all set amongst a rocky garden landscape with leafy shrubs and trees, beside a river with a further figure steering a boat and overhanging willow trees by the banks, accompanied by a poetic inscription, the base similarly decorated with a stylised lotus spray in the recessed centre, encircled by ruyi heads against a black-lacquered roundel, the interior and the side of the base left plain

Collection of Reverend Victor Farmer.
Christie's London, 8th June 2004, lot 465.
Collection of Robert H. Blumenfield.
Christie's New York, 25th March 2010, lot 954.

The brushpot is in good structural condition. There are a few patches where the lacquer has flaked and has been filled in below the rim. Some minor losses elsewhere, including shallow glaze flakes to the tips of one of the feet. The losses are consistent with the age and type.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The inscription on this brushpot is an excerpt from Song He Binke gui Yue [Seeing off guest He returning to Yue], a poem composed by the famous Tang poet Li Bai (701-762) recording the departure of his poet friend, He Zhihang (659-744), to the state of Yue, where the mirror lake was one of the major attractions. The verse may be translated as follows: On the mirror-clear lake, the floating reflection stirs ripples,
An unbridled traveller steers his boat and escapes to the dark sea.

This exquisite brushpot exemplifies the inventiveness of Chinese art during the Kangxi period, which was possible through the Emperor's enthusiastic patronage of the arts. Mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer was produced from the Tang period (618-907), with a similarly intricate type developed from the Song (960-1279) and flourishing in the Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. This brushpot is decorated using a complex technique that was invented in the seventeenth century by Chinese craftsmen working in one of the twenty-seven workshops under the directorship of Viceroy Lang Tingzuo (1656-1668) in the newly established Zaobanchu (Imperial Manufacture Department) in the Forbidden City. According to Harry Garner in Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, p. 259, this technique represents the final stage of lacquerware technology in China. The porcelain body is covered with layers of black lacquer which are decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl, and further applied with gold and silver leaf and dust. The use of dust enabled craftsmen to step away from filling space with diaper patterns, thus endowing the design with a more painterly effect.

The close proximity of the various workshops specialising in different materials in the Forbidden City led to the sharing of personnel and ideas between workshops. As a result, luxurious wares that combined two or more precious materials were developed. This brushpot is a rare and excellent example of lacquered porcelain, the rarity of such pieces possibly attributed to its fragility. Another brushpot, of larger size and broader proportions, was sold in our New York rooms, 5th June 1985, lot 142. A rouleau vase decorated in a similar technique, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was included in the Museum's exhibition Mother-of-Pearl. A Tradition in Asian Lacquer, 2006, cat. no. 27, where it is mentioned that there is another vase of this type in the Metropolitan Museum that was first decorated with underglaze blue decoration and then covered with lacquer (p. 66).

See also a porcelain vase similarly embellished with inlaid lacquer, in the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague, illustrated in Michel Beurdeley and Guy Raindre, Qing Porcelain, London, 1987, pl. 65; a globular jar and cover in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, collection no. 117 (lid no. 1883); a yen yen vase from the Stephen W. Bushell collection, published in Stephen Bushell, Chinese Art, vol. II, London, 1910, pl. 53; and a dish, from the Grandidier collection and now in the Musee Guimet, Paris, included in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 157. Bronze was also decorated with this technique; compare a fanghu vase, included in the exhibition East Asian Lacquer. The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, cat. no. 62.

Lacquered porcelain appears to have its roots in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); see a qingbai figure of the Buddha Amitabha, in the Beijing Art Museum, Beijing, included in the exhibition Treasures from Ancient Beijing, Christie's, New York, 2000, cat. no. 7.