A FINELY CARVED BAMBOO 'SCHOLARS' BRUSHPOT, BITONGEarly Qing DynastyOf cylindrical form, meticulously carved in relief and openwork with a continuous scene depicting statesmen, literati and artists gathering at a mountain retreat, inscribed with aLu Zhen mark with awu square seal, the rim and base fitted with separate wood mounts, the bamboo of a reddish-brown tone.16.5cm (6 1/2in) diam.Provenance: 清早期 竹鏤雕雅集圖筆筒「魯珍」款、「吳」方印Provenance:An Asian private collection來源:亞洲私人收藏The marks inscribed on the the present exquisitely carved brushpot attribute it to the work of master carver Wu Zhifan (1644-1774), zi Lu Zhen. He was a member of the Jiading school of bamboo carving, who was active during the reign of the Kangxi emperor. Famous for his low relief carving on a simple plain background, he is also known to have excelled in all techniques, including high relief bamboo carving as seen in the present piece.The present lot is remarkable for the thickness and large surface of the bamboo, allowing the artist to skilfully bring the landscape and figural scene to life utilising the depth of the wood to create multi-layers, and building a three-dimensional effect. The deeply-carved scene depicting the literatus' idealised lifestyle represents a mature style of the Jiading school, which developed during the Kangxi period and further evolved during the 18th century.A number of brushpots bear Wu's signature: a boxwood brushpot from the Qing Court Collection in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu chuanji [Aprehensive collection of Chinese fine arts], Vol.11, Beijing, 1987, pl.13. The present brushpot, although with slightly deeper reliefpared to the Beijing Palace Museum boxwood example, distinguishes itself by the dense layers of carving from the later bamboo works which were executed in a more simplistic way. It is probably an early work by the artistpleted before his style matured. See two other brushpots inscribed by Wu published in ibid., pls.11-12.筒式，外壁一周鏤雕山間文人雅集事，共雕有二十餘人，松柏竹林掩映之下，或相對彈琴，或側耳傾聽，或松下對弈，或佇立觀棋，場景自然，形神刻畫細膩皆備。筒身一邊刻「魯珍」款及「吳」方印。整器刀法細緻，歎為觀止。清代初期，隨著國家政治局勢的穩定和江南經濟的復甦，嘉定竹刻重獲發展，其市場不再局限於文人學士書齋雅玩，其受眾急劇擴張，竹刻在此環境下獲得了廣泛的生存空間。這一時期的竹雕手法多樣，造型題材豐富，浮雕、鏤雕等技藝都發展到了歷史最高水平。吳之璠（1644-1774），字魯珍，號東海道人，清康熙年間嘉定人，工書畫，更善竹刻...