A ‘LINGBI’ STONE WATERPOT

MING TO QING DYNASTY (1368-1911)

LENGTH: 13.3CM

The lingbi limestone is naturally formed from cresting craggy peaks around a cavernous central section forming the water cavity. The lustrous rock has a characteristic wrinkled surface on its exterior and is of a dark grey tone accentuated by white veining. The higher side on the reverse of the vessel is punctured with a small hole. The side is etched with two characters reading Zhuyue 貯月 (“Catch moonlight”) followed by an apocryphal signature reading Zhengming 徵明 (Ming scholar and major painter Wen Zhengming, 1470-1559).

In its rustic, natural form, this exceptional waterpot is imbued with the beauty of nature as well as the master mind of human imagination. When catching the light, the small aperture on the upper side of the vessel would have cast a small, circular shadow on the well of the waterpot, creating a pleasing analogue to the reflection of a moon in water and cleverly echoing the inscription on the side of the vessel.

Zhuyue 貯月 could also be an expression taken from a poem entitled 汲江煎茶 “Draw River water to steep tea” by the Northern Song scholar Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037 1101), pertaining to gathering water from the Changjiang to brew tea:

大瓢貯月歸春甕	My big ladle catches the moon, puts it back in my spring jug,
小杓分江入夜瓶	my little ladle splits off River and pours it into my night flask.

PROVENANCE

Gu Wenbin 顧文彬 (1811-1889) of Guoyunlou Collection 過雲樓 (Passing Clouds Pavilion), Suzhou

明至清      靈璧石隨形水丞