More than a Game / A CARVED BAMBOO 'TWO SAGES PLAYING CHESS' GROUP 18th century (2)
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A CARVED BAMBOO 'TWO SAGES PLAYING CHESS' GROUP
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。