A bronze 'dragon' brush rest, Late Ming / Early Qing dynasty

Spink & Son Ltd., London, circa 1985.

The spontaneous result of throwing liquid bronze into water according to Hausmann’s notes, the present example is an abstract delight, open to new interpretations on every viewing and patinated through years of use as a brush rest. While in his notes Hausmann observed “two contending dragons amongst clouds,” he also celebrated the free-flowing accidental nature of the piece. Compare a related brushrest signed Zhang Mingqi included in In Scholars’ Taste, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1983, cat. no. 149, where it is suggested that excess lumps of molten metal from casting were thrown onto wooden shavings or sawdust to produce these ‘brushrests’; and another included in The Second Bronze Age, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1991, cat. no. 32, where the idea is put forward that these objects were also deliberately made using the lost wax process.