AN IMPORTANT HUANGHUALI 'PRUNUS' BRUSHPOT INSCRIBED BY JIN NONG (1687-1763) QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

of circular form and supported on six short feet, deftly carved with branches issuing prunus buds and blossoms elegantly extending across the exterior of the brushpot, the surface further incised with three aptly interspersed inscriptions, one translating to 'A Picture of River Prunus Blossoms by an Old Sojourner Dragon Spindle with New Comments in His Own Words' and followed by seal reading jin jijin yin, another inscription signed by Dongxin xiansheng ('Winter Heart Old Fellow') and followed by two seals reading shou and men respectively ('Gate to longevity') and a further seal reading Dongxin xiansheng, adjacent to two further incised collector seals reading Gushi wenfang ('Study of Mr. Gu') and cang yu helu ('Kept as a treasure at Crane Hut'), the wood of a warm brown colour

Collection of Gu Linshi (1865-1930) (Guoyun Lo).

The brushpot has some typical restored age cracks. The mouthrim also has some shallow flakes, most of which refilled, with the exception of a couple measuring max. approx. 0.7 cm. The overall condition is otherwise quite good and the actual tone is consistent with the main catalogue illustration on p. 39.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This brushpot is striking for its elegant design of a flowering prunus, which follows the tradition of Chinese painting with the surface of the huanghuali treated as a horizontal handscroll. The carver has further enhanced the overall pictorial effect by skilfully manipulating his blade as he would his brush and successfully captured texture by incising lines of differing depths, as seen in the broad cuts that define the gnarled tree and the thinly engraved plum blossoms. The brushpot was an essential item for the scholar’s desk, offering not only a utilitarian vessel but also a source of inspiration for reflection through its carved subject.  As the first flower to bloom each year, the flowering prunus was a particularly favoured motif amongst scholars as it symbolised perseverance, purity and old age.

Born in Hangzhou, Jin Nong (1687-1763) moved to Yangzhou where he found extensive patronage and established himself as a talented poet, calligrapher and painter and a connoisseur of ancient bronzes and stone inscriptions. Identified as one of the ‘Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou’, a group of idiosyncratic artists that excelled at flower paintings in the spontaneous xieyi (picture idea) style, he is particularly noted for developing the ‘lacquer script’ (qishu), which evolved from inscriptions on Han dynasty (205 BC-220 AD) lacquer vessels made with a brush with the tip cut away. The handscroll painting ‘Prunus blossom’ signed by Jin, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong, 1985, pl. 4, illustrates the close connection between his style of carving and painting. See also Jin's painting of the same subject, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in Wang Zhihai, Collection of Yangzhou Calligraphy and Painting, vol.I, Tianjin, 1996, p. 124 (Fig. 1).

Jin used many sobriquets, of which the ones that appear here are: Dongxin ('Winter Heart'), Dongxin ('Mr. Winter Heart'), Chichun weng ('Old Fellow Brazen Spring'), and Longxu jiuke ('Old Sojourner Dragon Spindle'). 

The first inscription is an excerpt from the Dongxi huamei tiji (Record of Inscriptions of Prunus Blossom paintings by Winter Heart)  (Meishu congshu ed.), 3a. and can be translated as follows:

'As for marvelous prunus blossom painters, in Guangling [Yangzhou district] I found two such friends there, Wang Chaolin [Wang Shishen (1686-1759)],who paints lush boughs, and Gao Xitang [Gao Xiang (1688-1753)], who paints sparse boughs. Both are men who do not eat cooked food [i. e., they transcend the mundane world].  In painting this picture I am neither lush nor sparse but in between.  People who see it might identify me with the tradition of Ding Yetang [bamboo and prunus painter, active ca. 1225], but this is merely to perceive the sour smell off your fingers [i.e., to have crude and superficial judgment]. Written by the Winter Heart Old Fellow' with two seals: 'Gate to Longevity' and 'Winter Heart Old Fellow'.

The second is an excerpt from the same book, ibid. 4a. and can be translated:

'Here Old Fellow Brazen Spring has painted some wild prunus blossoms, branches replete with countless blossoms thrusting upward and downward.  They were blooming everywhere both north and south of my lodge, where the stones covered with moss are so very hard to sketch. The day was cold and about to snow.  At water’s edge where a little storied pavilion is found, I could only see utterly cold birds soaring and swooping up and down, chirping about their fragrance and playing with their shadows, and no one in sight coming this way.' followed by the additional comment 'A Picture of River Prunus Blossoms by Old Sojourner Dragon Spindle with a New Comments in His Own Words.' and signed with one seal ('Seal of Jin Jijin').

This brushpot was part of the collection of Gu Linshi (1865-1930), as attested by a further inscription which reads 'Brushpot by Jin Nong on which he inscribed a poem and sketched boughs of prunus blossoms' and the two seals below branches:  Gushi wenfang ('Study of Mr. Gu') and  Zang yu Lelu ('Kept as a treasure at Crane Hut'). A native of Yuanhe (district of Suzhou), Gu Linshi, sobriquets Xijin, Xijin sanren, Xijin yufu, Helu zhuren and studio name (shiming) Helu, was a famous collector of paintings and calligraphic works, as well as rare books, and himself a landscape painter.

Jin Nong mastered a variety of calligraphic styles, which can be generally summarized into four types. One is ‘lacquer script’ (qishu). Instead of using the tip of the brush, Jin invented the style of writing with the side of it. Similarly like using a lacquer brush, horizontal strokes now became bold where vertical strokes turned into slim. Perfectly controlling the spacing relationship between the characters and the plain background (liubai), a delightful yet archaistic piece of master calligraphy can be obtained. Another is ‘clerical script’ (lishu). Inspired by the stele inscriptions Xia Cheng and Huashan Miao, the characters became more compressed in general. During the writing process, the tip of the brush was being avoided, and the brush was being carefully controlled with a great deal of steadiness. The calligraphy will thus spark a sense of archaism which can reflect back to the glorified and mysterious Chinese bronze inscriptions. The third style is ‘small regular script’ (xiaokai). Writing with a heavily inked brush, the characters were well organized and arranged. This style well reflected a sense of naturalism. The content normally contained an inscription or a poem written by him. The famous painting master Qi Baishi practiced this style in his early years and achieved at a level where his writing was almost indistinguishable to the real work. The last style resides in between the regular script and the clerical script. Referenced from the stele inscriptions of the Wei dynasty (220-226), the characters were more plumped and angular in a squared fashion. It was to be said ‘dull yet beautiful, heavy yet ingenious’. The content usually contained a biography or an article of the personage of the past. The inscription of the current brushpot would reflect this last style.