Chinese porcelain cylindrical brush pot (bitong), Kangxi

Very fine and rare Chinese porcelain cylindrical brush pot (bitong) with slightly curved sides, painted around the exterior in vibrant tones in underglaze cobalt blue with two large, stylised Shou characters each containing two large cartouches containing calligraphic inscriptions of Su Dongpo’s poem “Ode to Red Cliffs” with seals one reading “Dragon West” and signed Yun Wan “Cloud Play”, c. 1700, Kangxi Reign, Qing dynasty, h. 14 cm, 5½ in. 1-22720

Provenance:

• John R Berwald Oriental Ceramics & Works of Art, London, 18 April 1995;

• The Marsh Collection, sold at Bonhams, London, 2022, under the title “Art for the Literati”.

Illustrated:

• Brushpots, A Collector’s View, by S. Marsh 2020, pp. 146/147

• The Marsh Collection, sold at Bonhams, London, 2022, under the title “Art for the Literati”, lot 43.

Literature: Word, Image, and Deed in the life of Su Shi, by R. Egan, 1994, pp. 221/228.

Notes: When the Song dynasty litterateur Su Dongpo (1037-1101) was first sent to Huangzhou in exile for opposing reformist policies at court, he passed by the supposed site of the naval battle of the Red Cliffs (AD 208) and wrote the two poems on the Red Cliffs commemorating the valour and bravery of the historical heroes that fought in the battle long past, while also voicing his own sense of nostalgia, loss and receding into the pages of history. His poems have since entered the Chinese literature canon and are a continuously popular motif for artists and poets.

This bush pot has extracts from Su’s poems, which may be translated as:

1. Continuing journey from five hundred years ago, the scenery of old with water stretching to the horizon, tonight the moon lingers by the Eastern Mountain, as if there were the same autumn moon that shone on the battle. Yun Wan.””

2. “A visitor arrives at Red Cliff with freshly caught fish, yet no one brought wine from Huangzhou, our poetry contrasts the silence that fills the riverbank and the thousand mountains a lonely crane crosses the river and passes over our boat”.

非常精美且少見的中國青花赤壁賦筆筒，筆筒壁微微內收，器身飾以兩個壽字，字中有圓形開光，內書蘇東坡的赤壁賦，一印“龍西”，一“雲玩”款，約1700年，清康熙，高14釐米，5 ½英吋。

藏品來源：

• John R Berwald東方陶瓷及工藝品，1995年4月18日倫敦

• 2022年倫敦邦瀚斯“文人藝術”拍賣，Marsh舊藏

出版：

•《藏家眼中的筆筒》，作者S. Marsh，2020年出版，見第146-147頁

• 2022年倫敦邦瀚斯“文人藝術”拍賣拍品號43，Marsh舊藏

參考文獻：《蘇軾的詞，畫和事》，作者R. Egan，1994年出版，見第221-228頁。

備註：

宋代大文豪苏轼（1037-1101）因反对新法，针砭时弊而被贬谪到黄州。沿途經過一處以為是赤壁之戰發生之地（公元208年），遂作詩詞兩首紀念歷史長河裡的英雄，亦表達了自己的懷古感傷之情。從此蘇軾的詩詞便成為後人爭相模仿和學習的範本。

這件筆筒上書蘇軾詩選段

• 五百年前續此遊，水光依舊接天浮，徘徊今夜東山月，恍惚當年王戌秋。
• 有客得魚臨赤壁，無人載酒出黃州，吟成一浦千山寂，孤鶴橫江涼小舟。