A VERY RARE YIXING STONEWARE 'DOUBLE-GOURD' BRUSHWASHER

Cheng Mingyuan seal mark and signature, early Qing Dynasty

Footnotes

清早期 紫泥葫蘆式洗
「陳鳴遠」篆书印
「陳鳴遠作」行书刻款

Provenance: Hugh M. Moss Ltd., London, early 1970s
Mr & Mrs Gerard Hawthorn, London
Bonhams Hong Kong, 28 November 2011, lot 209
A Princely collection

Illustrated: P.Moss, 'I-Hsing-Tea-Taste', in Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, vol.10, no.3, September 1978, p.6, fig.3.

來源：倫敦古董商Hugh M. Moss Ltd.，1970年代早期
倫敦Gerard Hawthorn伉儷
香港邦瀚斯，2011年11月28日，拍品編號209
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6頁，插圖3

For a nearly identical Yixing 'double-gourd' brushwasher in the Shanghai Museum, see Themes and Variations: The Zisha Pottery of Chen Mingyuan, Hong Kong, 1997, p.100, pl.17. A related Yixing lotus brush washer, also by Chen Mingyuan, Kangxi, is illustrated by P.Moss, The Literati Mode: Chinese Scholar Paintings, Calligraphy and Desk Objects, London, 1986, p.228, no.104.

Chen Mingyuan stands out as a significant figure in the rich legacy of Yixing stoneware, despite the scarcity of historical documentation about his life. The specific dates of his birth and passing remain elusive, yet contemporary scholarship generally places Chen within the Kangxi/Yongzheng period (1662-1735), or potentially as early as the Shunzhi/Kangxi era (1644-1722). Chen adopted various artistic names, including Hefeng, Hecun, Shixia shanren, and Huyin. His exceptional talent and masterful craftsmanship are lauded in traditional assessments of Yixing pottery. In A Pictorial Study of Yangxian Pottery Teapots (Yangxian shahu tu kao) by Li Jingkang and Zhang Hong (1937:12), Chen's remarkable skills in crafting teapots and scholar's objects are likened to those of Xu Youquan and Shen Ziche, contemporaries who were equally revered alongside the renowned master Shi Dabin. Surviving examples attest to the significant interest in producing objects for the scholar's studio at the end of the Ming dynasty. In this context, Chen Mingyuan emerges as a pivotal figure, arguably the foremost successor and innovator in advancing this artistic tradition during the early Qing period.