A bamboo ‘Dongfang Shuo’ taper holder, signed Wang Yi, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Lot 225. A bamboo ‘Dongfang Shuo’ taper holder, signed Wang Yi, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 11.2cm, 4 3/8 in. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000. Lot sold 12,500 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's.
of cylindrical form, the exterior carved in low relief with Dongfang Shuo standing with a large peach by his feet, his arms supporting a book and his head turned backwards towards a leaf, inscribed with a biography of the immortal, signed Jiading Wang Yi, the bamboo of a reddish chocolate brown tone.
Note: A brushpot signed Wang Yi and similarly carved in low relief with a groomsman observing a horse rolling on its back, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2001, pl. 35.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 13 may 2015