Of rectangular box-shaped, with three openings on the top for holding brushes. The top surface is also pierced with three openwork cash-shaped designs above a hallow space.
A Chinese yellow glazed brush rest. Kangxi period
COUNTRY : China
PERIOD : Kangxi (1662-1722)
MATIERIAL : Porcelain (biscuit)
SIZE : 2.36 in. (6 cm)
REFERENCE : C861
PROVENANCE : Compagnie des Indes et de la Chine, Paris, acquired in 1958 (inventory number 17706)
STATUT : sold
related works
Two very similar brush rests are illustrated by Luisa Vinhais and Jorge Welsh in Biscuit: Refined Chinese Famille Verte Wares, Jorge Welsh Books, London and Lisbon, 2012, pp. 120-123, nos. 28-29.
Further information
Brush rests were necessary items for writing as a temporary holder for brushes while they were in use upon the scholars’s desk. This brush rest would have been used in conjunction with other items essential to the Chinese scholar, such as ink, paper and brushes.
