清十八至十九世紀 紫檀題詩筆筒 十九世紀至民國加刻翠竹圖 《板橋》仿款 「翰墨軒主人」、「老畫師」、「所南翁後」仿印

題識：
短節古幹加地下之鞭，急飛騰于地上。然則地上之竹，猶不多飛騰于天上耶。 高卑固無一定也。

This brushpot bears the apocryphal signature of the Qing painter, poet and calligrapher Zheng Xie (1693-1765), better known as Zhen Banqiao, and the apocryphal seal of the prominent collector and connoisseur Dai Zhi, who was active in the Daoguang period. It is likely that an anonymous artist carved the motif of bamboo in the style of Zheng Xie, and added the inscription and seals on a plain zitan brushpot. The poetic inscription may be translated as follows:

When a short-joined old stalk expands its roots underground, bamboo suddenly thrust up through the ground. However, once above ground not many bamboo soar up to the sky, do they? For whether they turn out to grow high or low is never certain.