AN INSCRIBED 'ORCHID PAVILION' BAMBOO BRUSHPOT, SIGNED WANG YONGFANG JIADING SCHOOL, QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD

of cylindrical form resting on three feet, deftly inscribed on the exterior with the 'Preface to the [Collected Verse from the] Lanting Xu (‘Orchid Pavilion’)', in running script, titled Lanting xu bitong and signed Wang Yongfang with seals shanggu ('Esteem Antiquity') and Yongfang, the bamboo of light brown colour

This delicate brushpot is signed by the bamboo master carver Wang Yongfang, also known as Yufu and Shunjian, who was active during the Kangxi period (1661-1722). A native of Jiading in Jiangsu province, Wang was particularly renowned as a talented carver of calligraphy in the style of Su Shi (1037-1101). The 18th century scholar Jin Yuanyu in his Zhuren lu, noted that his style of carving is ‘clear and elegant yet easy and unrestrained’ (see Zhongguo meishujia renming cidian, Shanghai renmin chubansheed., 1985, A:6a).

This present work is inscribed on the exterior with the 'Preface to the [Collected Verse from the] Lanting Xu (‘Orchid Pavilion’)', in running script and titled Lanting xu bitong and signed Wang Yongfang with two seals shanggu ('Esteem Antiquity') and Yongfang.

Compare a bamboo brushpot similarly inscribed by Wang Yongfang with a poem composed by Su Shi, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s exhibition Jiangxin yu xiangong Ming Qing diaoke zhan. Xiangya xijiao pian, Taipei, 2009, cat. no. 5; and another, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Jin Xiyai, Wang Shixiang, Zhu ke yishu [The art of bamboo carving], Beijing, 1980, pl. 9.