Finely carved around the exterior with the Eight Horses of Muwang gambolling below trees, all under an even pale lime-green glaze, the eyes picked out in black, the base with an impressed seal mark, Li Yucheng zuo, small chip, wood stand.

Provenance: Michael Kaynes-Klitz Collection.

Note:  Carved pottery is a distinctive new genre which appeared from Jiaqing period onwards. These pieces have characteristically fine and fluid carving, and mostly covered in yellow or green glaze to imitate bamboo.

Li Yucheng is recorded as a Daoguang potter in Gerald Davidson, The Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics, London, 1994, p.155, no.1779

Compare a yellow brushpot carved with bamboo and rocks and a Jiaqing seal mark in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Liu Liangyu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, 5, p.254; and another carved with landscape and figures and a Daoguang mark, illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming and Qing Porcelain on Inspection, Beijing, 1993, p.306, both with the finely worked details on the rim to imitate bamboo like the present lot

Compare also a brushpot with cranes and mark of Yu Zhongkun, sold in our New York Rooms, 20 September 2000, lot 373