OBJECTS FOR THE SCHOLAR'S DESK, Hong Kong 2014
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Scholar’s Implements

A ROOTWOOD BRUSHPOT

Qing Dynasty, 18th Century

Height: 18cm

The rootwood brushpot is of wild, irregular form accented throughout with numerous cavities and knots. The exterior is incised with various colophons and can be translated as:

入吾室者 The only one to enter my chamber
但有清風 Is but the fresh breeze,
對吾飲者 And the only one to share a drink with me
惟當明月 Is but the bright moon.

These four lines are quoted in the biography of Xie Hui 謝譓 (late 5th - early 6th centuries) as said by him; see Nanshi 南史 (History of the Southern Dynasties, 420-589) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 20:560

The inscribed words gusong 古松 “Ancient Pine” appears to be referring to the wood itself and does not correlate to the other text.

The brushpot is well patinated to a reddish brown colour.

SIMILAR EXAMPLE
A stylistically similar scrollpot from the Richard Rosenblum collection is published in Art of the Natural World: Resonances of Wild Nature in Chinese Sculptural Art, 2001, Catalogue No. 51

清十八世紀 自然形樹根帶詩文筆筒