
Juliette Hammer
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Sold for £14,080 inc. premium
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Specialist, Chinese Works of Art

Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
十七/十八世紀 竹雕松樹水丞
In literati culture, pine trees symbolise resilience and moral integrity, as they remain evergreen even in the harshest winters. As a recurring theme in Chinese art, pine trees serve as a metaphor for the ideal scholar who upholds virtue and perseveres through adversity with grace. While this vessel takes the form of a water pot for the scholar's desk, it may have been conceived more as a refined scholar's object for contemplation rather than for practical use.
See a related carved bamboo 'pine tree' waterpot in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Small Refined Articles of the Study, Shanghai, 2009, p.196, no.184. A bamboo brushwasher of similar form is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in The Chinese Scholar's Studio: Artistic Life in the Late Ming Period, New York, 1987, no.56. See also an example published by Ip Yee and L.C.S.Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part 1, Hong Kong, 1978, pl.62.
See also a related bamboo 'pine tree' waterpot, 18th/19th century, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 24 November 2013, lot 345.