Tubular bamboo incense holder finely carved in medium and high relief with a mountainous landscape of peaks amid densely swirling clouds and large boulders in the foreground. A twin-trunked pine tree with twisted branches rises from a rocky outcrop and beneath stands a pair of figures in conversation, one gesticulating with arm extended, the other with a hoe resting on his shoulder, from which hangs a basket of fruit and herbs. Two female immortals peep down from the clouds, one bearing a ruyi sceptre, the other some books. The ends are enclosed by hardwood fittings, each with a circular aperture into which fits a circular wood stopper. The bamboo bears a rich golden patina.
Provenance:
Maria Kiang, Hong Kong.
Exhibited:
London, 2019, Eskenazi Limited.
Published:
Eskenazi Limited, Room for study: fifty scholars’ objects, London 2019, number 36.
Similar examples:
Ip Yee and Laurence C. S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, part I, Hong Kong, 1978, number 87, for a slightly smaller example.
Zhao Shengtu ed., Zhuyuan jiangxin, Ming Qing Jiading zhuke jingpin, (Masterpieces of Jiading Bamboo Carvings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties), Shanghai, 2018, pages 38 - 39, for a stylistically comparable example with a different subject matter.
The scene skilfully depicted on the present incense holder is the story of Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao in the Tiantai Mountains. During the Han dynasty, two friends, Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao, set off for the Tiantai Mountains to gather medicinal herbs. As they travelled deeper into the mountains, they lost their way and were temporarily filled with fear. However, they soon found a peach tree, and having eaten the fruit, their strength returned. Carrying on the mountainous path, they forded a river and were greeted on the other side by female immortals welcoming them to their realm. The men were persuaded to stay in this paradise where every day felt like the beginning of spring and they remained there for six months. When they eventually returned home, they discovered that seven generations had passed in their absence.
First recorded in the Tang dynasty in Taiping Guangji, the story was popularized in Yuan dramas and was later depicted in woodblock prints and paintings.1 The subject, possibly influenced by woodblock prints, was taken up by bamboo craftsmen of the Ming and Qing periods and is found both on brushpots and incense holders. An incense holder by the late Ming dynasty carver Zhu Ying, depicting the two men playing chess with the immortals, was excavated from the tomb of Zhu Shoucheng in Gu village, Baoshan county, Shanghai in 1966 and is now in the Shanghai Museum.2
1 For a handscroll by Zhao Cangyun (active late 13th - early 14th century) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, depicting this story, see https://www.metmuseum. org/toah/works-of-art/2005.494.1/, accessed 30 May 2019.
2 Wang Shixiang and Zhu Jiajin ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, gongyi meishu bian 11, zhu mu ya jiaoqi, (Great Treasury of Chinese Art, Fine Arts 11, Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and
Horn Objects), Beijing, 1987, number 4; see also, Shanghai Museum, Literati Spirit, Art of Chinese Bamboo Carving, Shanghai, 2012, number 3.