Thank you for registering for our auction! You are required to provide: 1. Deposit; 保证金待商议; 2. Copy or images of ID card (front and back) or Passport 3. Images of Credit card (front and back).
5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) long
Sir Percival David (1892-1964) Collection, England. Bonhams London, 20 April 1983, lot 132. Auspicious Treasures from the Blumenfield Collection; Christie's New York, 22 March 2012, lot 1278.
The poem inscribed above the well was composed by the Northern Song poet Su Shi (1037-1101), who is known to have given to his friend Chen Mingying an inkstone on which he incised the same poem that appears on the present example. The poem cites the antiquity and the source of the stone, and extolls its qualities, as well as its worthiness of being preserved by later generations. The inscription on one side is signed Gao Fenghan (1683-1749), a well-known Qing dynasty poet, painter, calligrapher and seal carver, known for his love of inkstones. The inscription states that the inkstone previously belonged to Lantai Zheng shan ren (hermit Zheng of Lantai), that the stone comes from Qingzhou (present-day Shangdong province), that the carving is reminiscent of statues from the Five Dynasties, and that Gao was asked to carve the inscription by his friend Wen shan ren (hermit Wen). A Duan inkstone similar in shape to the present inkstone, dated Qianlong, and similarly inscribed with an inscription and a seal above the circular grinding surface was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 16-17 January 1989, lot 409.