A PAIR OF SMALL CHINESE CINNABAR LACQUER 'SEVEN SCHOLARS' BOTTLE VASES

A PAIR OF SMALL CHINESE CINNABAR LACQUER 'SEVEN SCHOLARS' BOTTLE VASES
QIANLONG 1736-95

The globular bodies each decorated with seven scholars playing weiqi, reading poetry and resting with an attendant in a garden, the waisted necks with key fret bands between stylised floral lappets beneath a border of ruyi-heads to the rims, all reserved on a low-relief diaper ground, the short straight feet with narrow key fret borders, the bases lacquered black, 12cm. (2)

Provenance: from an English private collection, London.

The depiction of literati was a popular theme on lacquerware from the Qianlong period and the subject of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove was a particular favourite. This group of scholars from the 3rd century AD, comprising Ji Kang, Ruan Ji, Ruan Xian, Xiang Xiu, Shan Tao, Wang Rong and Liu Ling, supposedly retreated from court life during the Three Kingdoms period to seek an escape from political intrigue and moral corruption. Instead they dedicated themselves in exile to the cultivation of scholarly pursuits such as weiqi and poetry, meeting in a bamboo grove close to the private residence of Ji Kang. The popularity of this theme can be seen in the number of Imperial carved lacquer pieces with this subject. A brushpot and a cabinet in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Lacquer Wares of the Qing Dynasty, pp.64-65, no.42, and pp.68-69, no.45.

清乾隆 剔紅松下七賢瓶 一對
來源：英國倫敦私人收藏。