A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'MYTHICAL BEASTS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG Kangxi image 1

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'MYTHICAL BEASTS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG Kangxi image 2

Lot 4^*

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'MYTHICAL BEASTS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG
Kangxi

The Marsh Collection: Art for the Literati

3 November 2022, 10:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £40,620 inc. premium

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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'MYTHICAL BEASTS' BRUSHPOT, BITONG

Kangxi
The cylindrical vessel boldly painted around the exterior in vibrant tones of cobalt-blue with sinuous archaistic chilong, with bifurcated tails and long scaly bodies, all writhing amidst scallop-shaped ruyi-clouds. 19.3cm (7 1/2in) diam.

Footnotes

清康熙青花瑞獸紋筆筒

Provenance: Berwald Oriental Art Ltd., London, June 1996

來源：倫敦古董商 Berwald Oriental Art Ltd.，1996年6月

Chilong or 'hornless dragon' with bifurcated tails were a common motif originating from ancient Shang and Zhou dynasty bronze vessels. Their appearance on Qing dynasty blue and white porcelain reflects a growing academic trend known as the 'search for evidence' (kaozheng 考證) movement which began in the 17th century. Although this movement originated in a renewed scholarly interest in ancient texts and inscriptions on archaic bronzes, as literati sought a more empirical approach to understanding their ancient heritage and began questioning the received tradition, it led to a greater fascination for decorative designs adopted from ancient bronzes too.

See for example a blue and white bowl with related decoration of archaistic chilong, Kangxi, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghuaci, Beijing, 2005, p.202, no.123.

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