AN UNUSUAL CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL SQUARE BRUSHPOT, BITONG, QIANLONG (1736-1795)

拍品描述

AN UNUSUAL CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL SQUARE BRUSHPOT, BITONG, QIANLONG (1736-1795) The square brushpot is worked in cloisonné enamel, its upright form raised on four short bracket feet and framed by gilt-metal rims and edges. The straight-sided body gives a clear architectural presence, while the turquoise-blue ground provides a vivid field for the continuous landscape decoration. The interior is enamelled in white, contrasting with the dense colour and gilt wirework of the exterior. Each face is decorated with waterside pavilions, bridges, boats, trees and rockwork, the scenes linked visually across the corners to form a continuous idealised landscape. The roofs are picked out in blue, green and yellow, with walls, windows and balustrades defined by gilt cloisons. Wavy lines indicate water, while scrolling cloud forms and birds animate the turquoise sky, giving the surface a lively but carefully ordered rhythm. The lower corners are set with red-ground foliate feet, while the base is decorated with a repeated pattern of four-petalled flowers in red, yellow, purple and blue on a turquoise ground. The square section is particularly well suited to use as a bitong, allowing writing brushes to stand upright while presenting four separate pictorial panels to the viewer. The object combines practical function with a refined ornamental programme, appropriate to the scholar’s table. During the Qianlong period, cloisonné enamel enjoyed strong imperial and elite patronage, valued for its brilliant colour, technical precision and durability. The use of landscape imagery on a scholar’s object connects the brushpot with cultivated ideals of retreat, literary refinement and the appreciation of nature, while the medium itself reflects the Qing taste for richly worked decorative surfaces. This unusual square bitong is a distinctive Qianlong cloisonné enamel work, uniting scholar’s function, architectural form and continuous landscape decoration in a compact and finely ordered object. Height: 13 cm

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