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More than a Game: Games in Chinese Art, including the Brian Harkins Collection of Bronze Arrow Vases

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Lot 41

A CARVED BAMBOO 'TWO SAGES PLAYING CHESS' GROUP
18th century

29 – 30 May 2022, 14:00 HKT

Hong Kong, Six Pacific Place

Sold for HK$114,750 inc. premium

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A CARVED BAMBOO 'TWO SAGES PLAYING CHESS' GROUP

18th century
Carved in the round with two sages playing chess, served by a young attendant, all under a rocky cliff issuing two gnarled pines extending from the base to the top, the bamboo of honey-brown tone, stand. 10.9cm (4 1/4in) high. (2).

Footnotes

十八世紀竹雕松下對弈擺件

'The Four Scholarly Accomplishments', (Si yi): the four main academic and artistic accomplishments required of the aristocratic Chinese scholar-gentleman, comprised playing the seven-stringed zither qin, the strategy game of qi, writing calligraphy or shu, and painting or hua. Playing qi is the only game in the Four Accomplishments.

Compare with a related bamboo carving group of similar form, depicting a boy and buffalos under cliff and pines, early Qing dynasty, exhibited in Jiading Museum, Shanghai and illustrated in Zhuyuan jiangxin: mingqing jiading zhuke jingpin (Selected Bamboo Carvings of Ming and Qing Dynasites in Jiading), Shanghai, 2018, pp.100-101.

取竹根底部一節，圓雕二高士於山下對弈，高士長髯寬袍，坐於石台兩側，石台上浮雕二棋盒，高士探手其中，一側侍立一童子，童子懷抱一杖，身後雕嶙峋山崖，崖側鏤空雕二松樹，松樹參天盤頂。

古人琴棋書畫四藝中，唯有棋屬於遊戲。參考一件類似構圖之清早期竹根雕松下牧牛圖擺件，見《竹緣匠心：明清嘉定竹刻精品》，上海，2018年，頁100-101。

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