Footnotes

• It is rare to find an Yixing stoneware brushpot decorated in 'coloured slip' decoration, and the current example is one of the finest examples of its type. There is however a brushpot with closely related composition and similar Yang Jichu seal mark in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Purple Sandy Ware, Hong Kong, 2008, p.145, pl.115 (fig.1).
  
  For another Yang Jichu brushpot preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see ibid, p.145, pl.116 (fig.2). Compare also a Qianlong reign-marked Yang Jichu brushpot illustrated ibid, p.143, pl.113 (fig.3); and a closely related example bearing a Yang Jichu seal mark from the Mr and Mrs Gerard Hawthorn Collection, sold in these rooms, 28 November 2011, lot 208 (fig.4). See also a Yang Jichu brushpot illustrated in An Illustrated Collection of Fine Stonewares of Yangxian, Taipei, 1985, pl.40 (fig.5); and another example from the Robert H. Blumenfeld collection, sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2012, lot 1246.
  
  Yang Jichu is renowned for his outstanding craftsmanship on Yixing stoneware brushpots, particularly slip-decorated ones, created in the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns (1723-95). In chongkan jingxi xianzhi, or The Republished Jingxi Gazetteer, complied by Tang Zhongmian during the Qing dynasty, Yang Jichu was recorded as being active at the same time as the Yixing master Chen Hanwen, who is said to be the brother of Chen Mingyuan (Tang, 1793).
  
  
  清乾隆 段泥彩繪人物山水紋筆筒
  
  「楊季初」篆文方印
  
  大筆筒成圓柱形，筒壁厚實，寬圈足，底鈐「楊季初」篆文方印。筆筒泥繪人物山水，在竹林間，有一高士正在亭台中閱讀，小伺童在另一廂房中收拾整理;後院幽靜，有一文人提著竹桿，站在圍牆門外，對湖景遠望，甚有詩意。段泥質細潔淨，適合泥繪；工匠描繪細膩，書齋案上擺設、窗戶柵欄等，都清楚交代；更妙用泥的不同厚度，如薄皴擦描繪石頭紋理，用厚重紫泥表現樹幹質感，可謂把彩繪技術發揮到淋漓盡致。
  
  故宮博物院藏有一件鈐有「楊季初」篆文方印的彩繪筆筒，其構圖與本筆筒十分相似，皆以文人閱讀於山林間為題，背景山水，前景有大樹及三茅屋，唯故宮博物院藏筆筒以鐵褐色砂泥為本，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍藏大系:紫砂器》，上海，2008，頁116(fig.1)。
  
  同鈐有「楊季初」款的泥堆筆筒，還有故宮博物院藏堆繪梅軒晤陽圖筆筒，見同書，頁116(fig.2)；另一件故宮博物院藏鈐「大清乾隆年製」款大筆筒(fig.3)，以及香港邦瀚斯，〈好善簃珍藏宜興紫砂〉第一部分，2011年11月28日，拍出的楊季初款筆筒(拍品編號208)(fig.4)也可作參考。亦可參考陳克立藏楊季初筆筒，見陳克立、賴福來：《陽羨砂器精品圖譜》，淑馨出版社，1985年，圖版40(fig.5)，以及紐約佳士得，2012年3月22日，the Robert H. Blumenfeld collection專場中的楊季初筆筒，拍品編號1246。
  
  楊季初，清雍正、乾隆時宜興紫砂名師。宜興人。工治壺，更擅長製作筆筒文具，亦精通泥繪。清人唐仲冕於《重刊荊溪縣志》（清光緒刻本）卷四中曾記錄：「楊季初，菱花壺甚工，與陳漢文同時。」，然而傳世品中未見菱花壺。所製砂器通常均有「楊季初」篆文方印。