AN EXCEPTIONAL YIXING STONEWARE SLIP-DECORATED BRUSHPOT, BITONG

Yang Jichu three-character seal-mark, Qianlong

Footnotes

清乾隆 段泥彩繪羲之觀鵝圖筆筒
「楊季初」篆書款

Provenance: Hugh M. Moss Ltd., 1970s
Mr & Mrs Gerard Hawthorn, London
Bonhams Hong Kong, 28 November 2011, lot 208
A Princely collection

Illustrated: P.Moss, 'I-Hsing-Tea-Taste', Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, vol.10, no.3, September 1978, p.10, fig.17.

來源:古董商Hugh M. Moss Ltd.，1970年代
倫敦Gerard Hawthorn伉儷
香港邦瀚斯，2011年11月28日，拍品編號208
王子藏品

著錄：P.Moss，《I-Hsing-Tea-Taste》，《Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society》，第10冊，編號3，1978年9月，第10頁，插圖17。

It is extremely rare to see an Yixing stoneware brushpot adorned with coloured slip decoration, and the present lot stands out as one of the finest documented examples of its kind. A brushpot with nearly identical decoration is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, but with a six-character Qianlong seal mark rather than the Yang Jichu seal mark, illustrated in Yixing Zisha Wares in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2009, p.184, pl.103. The Palace Museum brushpot is speculated to have been crafted as an Imperial tribute piece or commissioned personally by the Qianlong Emperor himself. Another Yixing stoneware brushpot bearing Yang Jichu's mark is also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ibid., p.186, pl.104.

Yang Jichu is recorded in the Chongkan jingxi xianzhi (重刊荊溪縣志), or The Republished Jingxi Gazetteer and gained renown for his exceptional craftsmanship in creating Yixing stoneware brushpots, particularly those adorned with slip decoration, during the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns. The current brush pot, with its pale golden hue, provides an ideal canvas for landscape painting, drawing parallels between the stoneware vessel and traditional silk or paper artworks.

The composition evokes a sense of tranquillity, accentuated by details like wine jars, a white screen, and a rattan curtain. Symbolic elements such as the thatched roof and overhanging willow and cypress trees add to the idyllic imagery, epitomising the literati's yearning for escape and communion with nature. The present lot depicting a scholar gazing out at geese could be a reference to Wang Xizhi (317-420 AD), revered as the 'Sage of Calligraphy' in Chinese culture. Legend has it that Wang observed the graceful movements of geese's necks, which inspired him to wield the brush in a similar way to create his calligraphy. However, the decoration on the present lot is close to that of a painted album leaf Landscape with Pavilion and Willows, attributed to Shen Zhou (1427-1509) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, although the geese are absent in the painted album.

Further Yixing brushpots adorned with slip-painted landscapes on a dark background and stamped with Yang Jichu's seal are in both the Suzhou Museum and the Yangzhou Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji- 23-Yixing, Tokyo and Shanghai, nos. 24 and 70.

See a similar Yixing stoneware slip-decorated brushpot, signed Yang Jichu, Qianlong period, which was sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2012, lot 1246. And another also signed Yang Jichu, Qianlong, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2016, lot 3374.