A carved bamboo ‘Qiao Sisters’ brushpot, Signed Yutian Huashi

拍品描述

Bamboo Carvings from the Wumingtang Collection signed Yutian Huashi zuo, with an accompanying poem Height 14.9 cm, 5⅞ in. The present brushpot depicts the legendary Qiao Sisters around a zither. The sisters became known for their beauty and their association with two famous war heroes. Daughters of the official Qiao Xuan (109-83) of the late Han dynasty, one daughter married the warlord Sun Ce, and the other Sun’s close friend, General Zhou Yu. While a bamboo carver by the name of Yutian Huashi (lit. ‘Flower Master of the Jade Field’) has yet to be identified, this moniker and the accompanying poetic inscription do appear in a painting attributed to the Qing artist Feng Ji, similarly depicting two women of rounded complexion and flowing robes, preserved as part of a set of four in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. 贈畫000850).

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