Juliette Hammer
Sale Coordinator
Lot 33
A CARVED BAMBOO 'ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBER' BRUSHPOT, BITONG Kangxi
14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£2,000 - £3,000
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Chen Xie
Specialist
Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lazarus Halstead
Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
A CARVED BAMBOO 'ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBER' BRUSHPOT, BITONG
Kangxi
Raised on three tab feet, carved in high relief with a continuous scene depicting Cui Yingying in an elegant garden before wutong trees, plantain and ornamental rockwork, gazing to her right at a stand containing large peaches, beside a luduan seated upon rockwork, a vase containing tall lotus stems and table set with scholar's objects.
16.5cm. (6 1/2in) high.
Raised on three tab feet, carved in high relief with a continuous scene depicting Cui Yingying in an elegant garden before wutong trees, plantain and ornamental rockwork, gazing to her right at a stand containing large peaches, beside a luduan seated upon rockwork, a vase containing tall lotus stems and table set with scholar's objects.
16.5cm. (6 1/2in) high.
Footnotes
清康熙 竹雕西廂記筆筒
The present lot possibly depicts the 'Melancholy of Love' scene from The Romance of the West Chamber (Xixiang Ji 西廂記), a classic Chinese drama by Wang Shifu. The scene captures the poignant longing of Cui Yingying as she yearns for her lover, the scholar Zhang Sheng, while constrained by societal expectations. Often depicted in secluded settings, such as a scholar's studio or a moonlit garden, the scene emphasises her emotional turmoil through symbolic elements such as the lotus and scholars objects.
The overall composition closely resembles a woodblock print by Chen Hongshou (1598–1652), an artist active from the late Ming to early Qing period. This connection suggests a direct link between Chen's woodblock illustrations, prefaced by Ma Chuanqi in 1639, and the present brushpot. See a woodcut of the 'Melancholy of Love' scene from Zhang Shenzhi's edition of the Romance of the Western Chamber, carver Xiang Nanzhou (act. mid-17th century), woodblock printed album, National Library of China.
See also a similar carved bamboo brushpot depicting Cui Yingying, with very similar carving of lotus leaves in vases and luduan on a table, signature of Zhu Xiaosong, mid-17th century, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Uncanny Ingenuity and Celestial Feats: The Carvings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2010, pp.23-24, no.2.