Beschreibung:

A VERY RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL AND GILT-BRONZE 'DOUBLE SCROLL' 'TROMPE-L'OEIL' BRUSHPOT, BITONGQianlong
The vessel ingeniously simulating in its form two scrolls bound together with a ribbon, the smaller scroll decorated with multi-coloured chrysanthemums within a honeycomb pattern, with further flowers scattered above, the large scroll decorated with further stylised florettes against a wan-diaper pattern ground enameled turquoise blue, the 'ribbon' dark blue with green foliate scroll tied with a bow, the gilt base flat. 9.5cm (3 3/4in) high.Footnotes清乾隆 銅胎掐絲琺瑯捲軸式筆筒
Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1987
Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Spink & Son Ltd, The Minor Arts of China, London, 1987, no.101.
S.Marsh, Brushpots: A Collector's View, Hong Kong, 2020, pp.154-155.
來源：倫敦古董商Spink & Son Ltd.，1987年
展覽著錄： Spink & Son Ltd,《The Minor Arts of China》，倫敦，1987年，編號101
S.Marsh，《筆筒淵鑒：收藏家的隨心所悟》，香港，2020年，第154-155頁
Scrolls, repositories of learning and art, whether containing calligraphy, a painting or texts, perfectly encapsulate the ideals of the scholar-literati. Indeed, the Four Arts of the Scholar were qin (the zither), qi (chess), shu (calligraphy), hua (painting). In this rubric, scrolls usually come to signify calligraphy and painting. It would have been entirely suitable therefore, for a brushpot in the form of scrolls to adorn the desk of a scholar. The literati appreciated the value of 'play' (wan 玩) however, and so-called 'scholar's objects' can be termed in Chinese as wenwan (文玩), or 'literati playthings'. The trompe-l'oeil effect of a brushpot formed as two beribboned scrolls entirely fits this aesthetic of elegant fun and would have delighted the eye of the scholar.
See a cloisonné enamel guqin-shaped box and cover, Qianlong, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (acc.no.M.782BOX-1910). See also a cloisonné enamel box of scroll and brocade form, mid Qing dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in the Compendium of Collections of the Palace Museum: Enamels, vol.4, Beijing, 2011, p.161, no.112. Compare also with a related cloisonné enamel 'double scroll' brushpot of similar form, for which the present lot was probably the earlier prototype, late Qing dynasty, illustrated in ibid., p.364, no.294.