A fine and rare pair of small celadon-glazed brushwashers marks and period of Qianlong

the low upright sides embossed to the exterior with twelve studs above a low-relief classic scroll band, the interiors decorated in low relief with a double vajra, the soft pale grey-green glaze thinning slightly on the raised surfaces, the bases with seven tiny spur marks, the centres counter-sunk and inscribed with a four-character mark in underglaze-blue (wood stands)

Collection of Robert Chang.
Christie's New York, 20th September 2001, lot 387. 

An Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection, Christie's, London, 1993, cat.no. 68.

It is rare to find brushwashers of this form and no other closely related piece appears to be recorded. The double vajra design at the centre of these brushwashers can be found on blue-and-white porcelain of the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. The vajra was a symbol important in the Tibetan Buddhism belief.  It has been suggested that vessels decorated with such Tibetan Buddhist elements were intended either for religious rituals at the Qing court or perhaps as tribute to a Mongolian or Tibetan Lama.