Huanghuali scroll pot, China, 17-18th century. Height: 23 cm, Width: 21.5 cm. © Ben Janssens Oriental Art 2023

A massive huanghuali scroll pot, the sides roughly cylindrical but slightly wasted, rising up from a rounded base ring with slightly recessed base section that has a central roundel. The material is nicely figured and several characteristic “faces” can be seen in the grain.

Note: This magnificent holder is too large for brushes, so it was most probably made to store rolled-up scroll paintings. Rebecca Rice Jones and Angus Forsyth describe a very similar pot from the Piccus collection, included in an exhibition at the Altfield Gallery in Hong Kong in 1984, as a “brush pot or scroll holder”[1]