Lot 746. A small famille rose and gilt-decorated square brush pot, Qianlong four-character seal mark in iron-red and of the period (1736-1795), 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The brush pot is decorated on each side with a scene depicting a scholar, variously shown in landscapes with an attendant, dancing in a garden or at his desk. Each scene is surrounded by an underglaze blue scrolling border highlighted with gold, and the interior and underside are covered with turquoise enamel. 

Provenance: Collection of Sylviane de Rouchechouart de Mortemart (1940-2002) and Comte Charles Edouard de Bruce (1933-2015).

Note: A related square brush pot with landscapes surrounded by foliate scrolls, also with a Qianlong mark on a turquoise-enameled base, from the collection of Mr. Reginald Cory, is illustrated by R. L. Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, London, 1925, pl. LXXIII, fig. 1.

Christie's. Marchant: Nine Decades in Chinese Art, 14 September 2017, New York