Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

A rare Chinese group of the Tyrolean Dancers, Qianlong period, circa 1752
FOUR CHINESE YIXING WARES Late Qing dynasty - 20th century

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

FIVE BURMESE AND THAI GILTWOOD FIGURES OF BUDDHA Late 19th/20th century
TWO JAPANESE CELADON GLAZED STUDIO CERAMICS
Huang Shanshou (1855-1919) Dragons in Clouds
Birodo Yuzen Meiji era (1868-1912)
TWO JAPANESE BRONZE SCHOLAR'S OBJECTS Meiji/Taisho era
A KOREAN UNDERGLAZE-BLUE AND COPPER-RED-DECORATED 'GRAPEVINE' GLOBULAR JAR Late Joseon dynasty
A JAPANESE SIX-PANEL 'FARM SCENE' FOLDING SCREEN Late 19th/early 20th century
A KOREAN FOUR-PANEL 'PEONIES AND CALLIGRAPHY' FOLDING SCREEN Late Joseon dynasty
AN INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK CRYSTAL 'LADIES' SNUFF BOTTLE, SIGNED YE ZHONGSAN 1919
A CHINESE YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE 19th century
A FAMILLE-ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN COVERED BALUSTER JAR 18th/19th century
A PAINTED LACQUERED-WOOD FOUR-DOOR CABINET Early 20th century
Previous Lot
Next Lot
Lot 81

A DEEPLY CARVED BAMBOO 'ODE TO THE RED CLIFFS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG
17th century

Scholarly Gems from the Collection of Mr & Mrs Gerard Hawthorn
14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £11,520 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A DEEPLY CARVED BAMBOO 'ODE TO THE RED CLIFFS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG

17th century
Supported on three shallow feet, the foreground depicting Su Shi and companions travelling in a boat, a boy attendant seated at the front and oarsmen to the rear, the boat passing before rocky shores and below overhanging pine issuing from the looming cliffs, the reverse with a recessed waterfall flowing within the cliffs and swirling around jagged rocks at its base.
15.2cm (6in) high

Footnotes

十七世紀 竹雕遊赤壁圖筆筒

When the Song dynasty litterateur Su Dongpo (1037-1101) was first sent to Huangzhou in exile for opposing reformist policies at Court, he passed by the supposed site of the naval battle of the Red Cliffs (AD208). Su wrote the two poems on the Red Cliffs commemorating the valour and bravery of the historical heroes that fought in the battle long past, while also voicing his own sense of nostalgia, loss and receding into the pages of history. His poems have since entered into the Chinese literary canon and are a continuously popular motif for artists and poets. See R.Egan, Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi, Cambridge MA, 1994, pp.221-228.

See a related bamboo brushpot depicting Su Dongpo with friends on a boat by the Red Cliffs, 17th century, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Literati Spirit: Art of Chinese Bamboo Carving, Shanghai, 2001, p.46, pl.13.

Compare also with a similar 'Ode to the Red Cliffs' brushpot, 17th century, which was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 2 December 2021, lot 66.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A rare Chinese group of the Tyrolean Dancers, Qianlong period, circa 1752
FOUR CHINESE YIXING WARES Late Qing dynasty - 20th century
FIVE BURMESE AND THAI GILTWOOD FIGURES OF BUDDHA Late 19th/20th century
TWO JAPANESE CELADON GLAZED STUDIO CERAMICS
Huang Shanshou (1855-1919) Dragons in Clouds
Birodo Yuzen Meiji era (1868-1912)
TWO JAPANESE BRONZE SCHOLAR'S OBJECTS Meiji/Taisho era
A KOREAN UNDERGLAZE-BLUE AND COPPER-RED-DECORATED 'GRAPEVINE' GLOBULAR JAR Late Joseon dynasty
A JAPANESE SIX-PANEL 'FARM SCENE' FOLDING SCREEN Late 19th/early 20th century
A KOREAN FOUR-PANEL 'PEONIES AND CALLIGRAPHY' FOLDING SCREEN Late Joseon dynasty
AN INSIDE-PAINTED ROCK CRYSTAL 'LADIES' SNUFF BOTTLE, SIGNED YE ZHONGSAN 1919
A CHINESE YELLOW GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE 19th century
A FAMILLE-ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN COVERED BALUSTER JAR 18th/19th century
A PAINTED LACQUERED-WOOD FOUR-DOOR CABINET Early 20th century