A fine and rare celadon jade brushwasher 18th century
592
A fine and rare celadon jade brushwasher
18th century
Fashioned in the form of a lingzhi sprig with nine ruyi-shaped lingzhi heads, the two largest heads forming the receptacles, the branch forming the pierced support, enhanced by four bats on the exterior and one large bat in the interior of the larger receptacle, the stone of a pale green tone with icy-white inclusions and russet staining.
20.5cm (8in) long. ((2).).
Estimate:
HK$ 1.2 million - 1.5 million
£100,000 - 130,000
US$ 150,000 - 190,000

Footnotes

  • Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1989, lot 737

    Lingzhi are often described as having ruyi-shaped heads. The phrase 'ruyi' means 'as you desire'. As a result lingzhi not only represents longevity, but also the desire that your wishes come true. The word for bat is a homophone for blessings. In the present lot, there are five bats and nine lingzhi heads, which forms a rebus for the phrase 'wu fu jiu ru' - five blessings and nine similitudes. The five blessings are longevity, prosperity, good health, virtue and a natural death. The nine similitudes, taken from a passage in the Book of Odes, wishes that the recipient may be as the mountains and the hills, as the greater and lesser heights, as the streams which flow in all directions, having the constancy of the moon, like the rising sun, with the longevity of the southern mountain, and the green luxuriance of the fir and the cypress (Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Taipei, 1971).

    十八世紀 青白玉五福九如筆洗

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

Auction terms and conditions