Description:
A CLOISONNé LOTUS-LEAF BRUSH WASHER, XI
China, 18th century. The impressive parcel-gilt washer is fashioned as a deep lotus leaf with its veins finely and naturalistically detailed in shades of green enamels. The spiraling gilt-bronze stems bear a lotus pod, serving as adjustable brush rest, and a blossoming lotus flower with mint petals and pinkish tips serving as water pot.
Provenance: English private collection.
Condition: Excellent condition. Verdigris and wear to gilt sections. One small chip to enameling of water pot. Manufacturing imperfections.
Weight: 277.2 grams
Dimensions: Length 15 cm
It is very rare to find a lotus leaf washer in cloisonné enamel and particularly one serving multiple purposes at the same time.
Although this subject matter was a popular choice of form for washers of the Qing period, they are more commonly crafted from other materials such as jade and crystal. It is also interesting to compare the form of the present washer with metalwork censers from the Song dynasty such as the example in the collection of the Nanjing Municipal Museum, which is similarly cast with a lotus pod, lotus flower and leaf all borne on an undulating stem and connected to a long handle.
Auction result comparison: Compare with a closely related washer, likely from the same workshop, sold by Christies London on May 14th, 2019, in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, lot 114, and another, sold by Christies Hong Kong on June 3rd, 2015, in Through Connoisseurs’ Eyes, lot 2916.
景泰藍蓮葉筆洗
中國,十八世紀。鎏金筆洗呈蓮葉形,葉脈紋路,綠色釉,形象生動。蓮蓬莖処為筆擱,蓮花為水丞。
來源:英國私人收藏
品相:保存極好。局部有銅綠,鎏金処有磨損。水丞処釉面有一處小裂口。燒製瑕疵。
重量:277.2 克
尺寸:長 15 厘米