Footnotes

十八世紀 竹根雕靈芝杯

Provenance:
An important Asian private collection

來源：
重要亞洲私人收藏

The fungus or lingzhi (靈芝) is a symbol of longevity for its medicinal properties, while the bamboo or zhu, (竹) is a homophone for 'expressing good wishes' or zhu (祝). Together they form the auspicious saying 'birthday wishes' or 'wishing you longevity', zhushou (祝壽).

Bamboo carvers utilised the wood to create a variety of auspicious flora such as pine, finger citron, gourd, lotus and bitter melon. However, carvings as the present lot in the form of a lingzhi are rare, possibly due to the natural flared form of the fungi, which is less suitable to the naturally cylindrical shape of the bamboo.

See a carved bamboo-root 'lotus' cup, early Qing dynasty, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Jiangxin Yu Xiangong: Ming Qing Diaoke Zhan (Xiangya Xijiao Pian), Taipei, 2009, pp.53-56, no.8. Similarly-shaped lingzhi vessels were also produced in other media such as jade; compare two such jade vases of a large lingzhi issuing smaller fungi (and in the first example also pine), Qing dynasty, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 8 Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pls.171-172.

杯利用竹地下莖雕成，圓雕如意形花杯及靈芝杯架，靈芝蜿蜒盤繞，自然成形，杯口花瓣外翻，杯內鏤雕兩隻青竹，具有「靈仙祝壽」之意，杯口及杯內地作如意形，整器結合圓雕、浮雕及鏤雕工藝，且器形較大，為竹根雕大件難得一器。

嘉定竹雕在清代康熙、雍正、乾隆三朝進入全盛期，此時的竹根圓雕器尤為多樣，大多為模仿實物之「象生」雕刻。雖然這類圓雕件大多在形制上保留有功能性設計，實際僅供案台賞玩，藝術性高。此時期的文人竹雕是對文人風雅生活中相關器物的雅化及昇華。

清宮所藏竹根圓雕之例，見台北故宮博物院藏一件清早期三松款竹根雕荷葉式水洗，著錄於《匠心與仙工：明清雕刻展（象牙犀角篇）》，台北，2009年，頁53-56，編號8。此式靈芝杯亦見玉雕者，見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏兩例，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系：玉器編8》，北京，2011年，頁215及216，編號171及172，玉質靈芝杯應該被作為花插所用。