Bonhams 1793 : An Yixing bamboo-form teapot and cover Signed Gu Jingzhou, circa 1955

27 May 2012 16:00 CST Hong Kong
Yixing stoneware and scholar's objects from private collections
Back to auction 20489

An Yixing bamboo-form teapot and cover

Signed Gu Jingzhou, circa 1955
Of compressed spherical form, applied with a bamboo-form handle and short curved bamboo-shaped spout, the domed cover surmounted by a coiled branch of bamboo comprising the knop, the underside of the cover and the base impressed with seal marks, the clay of a beige colour. 19.2cm long.

Sold for HK$ 75,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

Gu Jingzhou (1915 - 1996), a native of Yixing who had been trained as a Yixing artist under his grandmother since 1933, is considered one of the greatest modern and contemporary masters of Yixing stoneware in China. During the early 1930s, before Gu was invited to Shanghai by the established connoisseur dealer, Lang Yushu, to make teapots after the styles of his predecessors, he was trained by Chu Ming, a renowned Yixing master from late Qing to early Republican period. During the 1940s when Gu retired from the ceramic monopoly, Shanghai Standard Ceramics Company, he returned to Yixing for solitude while his passion of making teapots never decreased. During the 1950s, he was appointed as the supervisor of the Shushan Pottery Production Cooperative, where he taught his first group of apprentices, including Xu Xiutang, Li Changhong, Gao Haigeng and others.

The mark on the base reads 'chuo mo kan cha', which literally translates as 'to sip the ink and to bring up a cup of tea'. This specific mark was used by Gu Jingzhou when he started teaching after the 1950s and was a metaphorical expression to his pupils for cultivating great patience in learning the finest skills of teapot production.

段泥竹節紋壺

「啜墨看茶」篆文方印
「顧景舟」篆文方印

壺圓鼓蓋，扁圓筒腹，淺圈足，整體以竹節為主題，橋鈕、短流及環柄皆飾以竹節紋，蓋頂凸雕竹葉點綴，造型端莊，線條清晰。暗黃色砂泥，光潔素淨。底鈐「啜墨看茶」篆文方印，蓋內鈐「顧景舟」篆文方印。

顧景舟(1915-1996)，紫砂陶藝大師，江蘇宜興人，自少隨祖母邵氏製宜興陶器，並立志以此為終生事業。他以邵大亨為學習對象，常與畫家文人來往，得到不少觀摩古代紫砂陶器機會，對其製器及鑑賞上幫助很大。其器以造型雄健嚴謹見稱，風格古樸高雅，被譽為「一代宗師」。

顧景舟少時就讀的蜀山東坡書院「墨緣齋」，自幼勤學奮力，每日啜墨不止。二十世紀三十年代開始跟隨當時蜀山製壺高手號稱「虎蓋洋桶王」的儲銘學藝，1936年受上海古董商郎書玉所邀，至滬作歷代名家仿古壺，所製壺嚴謹雅典，精緻工整。二十世紀四十年代從上海標準陶瓷公司返鄉隱居，其間結識諸多書畫名家如吳湖帆、江寒汀、王仁輔、唐云等。至建國後在蜀山陶業生產合作社設立「紫砂工藝班」，收受徐秀堂、李昌鴻、沈巨華、書束鳳英、高海庚等為藝徒。「啜墨看茶」篆文印便為顧景舟收受藝徒後所用印款，用以比喻製壺人需修心養性，反复耐心才能製出美壺。