QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
LENGTH: 12CM
The brush washer is carved from a single piece of amber in the shape of a squat lotus flower, with two rows of petals curled inward circling the hollowed out well. The underside of the washer shows the coiled stem issuing a smaller flower, a lotus pad and a chilong dragon. The translucent amber is of a deep red tone with a subtle network of crackling, characteristic of the material. The washer rests on a shallow stained ivory stand finely carved in the form of an aged lotus pad curled inward, its extremities accented with worm holes. A frog and two snails rest on the interior of the stand. The reverse of the stand reveals smaller pads, a lotus pod and a lotus bud tied together by the stalks. The ivory is stained green with accents of russet.
SIMILAR EXAMPLE:
A similar lotus leaf stained ivory stand, catalogued as a tray, was published in Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the Qing, 1984, p. 168, Catalogue No. 217 from the Sir Victor Sassoon Chinese Ivories Trust 826/822.
PROVENANCE:
Spink & Sons Ltd.
LITERATURE:
Minor Arts of China IV, Spink & Sons Ltd., 1989, p. 34, Catalogue No. 32.
清十八世紀 琥珀蓮花型水盂連象牙荷葉底座
