A PAIR OF INSCRIBED PEWTER TEA CADDIES / J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

Past Exhibition

ELEGANTLY MADE: Art for the Chinese Literati

March 13-27, 2020

13.
A PAIR OF INSCRIBED PEWTER TEA CADDIES

By Shen Cunzhou (active 17th Century)

the twin caddies perfectly matched, making a bracket-lobed form of quatrefoil section when placed together side-by-side, raised on shallow leaf-shaped feet at the margins of the flat bases and capped by close-fitting inset lids of matching form, bearing long inscriptions carved on the flat inner faces and on the bases.

One caddy with the title in seal script: 心曠神怡 (Mind Free and Sprit Happy), a phrase from the essay 岳陽樓記 (Recollections of Yueyang Tower) by the poet Fan Zhongyan (989-1052), followed by an excerpt in regular script from the essay 獨樂園記 (Reminiscences of the Garden for Solitary Enjoyment) by the eminent scholar and high official Sima Guang (1019-1086), with a one-line inscription using Sima Guang’s posthumous title “Duke of the State of Wen”: 溫公獨樂園 (Duke Wen’s Garden of Solitary Enjoyment) followed by the signature 沈存周製 (made by Shen Cunzhou) and two seals of the artist: 存 Cun and 周 Zhou;

incised on the base of the same caddy is a poem entitled 春日行近山 (Spring Day Outing to Nearby Mountains) by Huang Chushi (1288-1362), followed by one seal of the artist’s hao: 竹居 (Bamboo Retreat);

the other caddy inscribed with the title in seal script: 芝蘭之味 (Flavor of Iris and Orchid), followed by the text of 陋室銘 (An Inscription for my Humble Cottage) by Liu Yuxi (772-842), identified as such after the text and followed by the signature of the artist 竹居主人 (Master of the Bamboo Retreat) and one seal of the artist’s hao: 竹居 (Bamboo Retreat), the base of the caddy with a couplet taken from the poem 綠蔭亭 (Green Shade Pavilion) by Wang Qi (active 997-1022), incised in clerical script.

Height 3 ¹⁄₂ inches (9 cm)

Provenance
Unidentified Tokyo dealer (possibly Mayuyama or Kochukyo), 1961
Private Collection
Christies, New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 19 September 2006, lot 118
Shuisongshi Shanfang Collection

Shen Cunzhou (沈存周, active 17th century), zi Luyong (鷺雝), hao Zhuju (竹居), was a native of Jiaxing, a major city on the Grand Canal near Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. He was a recognized artist in pewter as well as a poet and a versatile calligrapher. His refined pewter objects for the scholar’s studio, wine vessels and tea wares were especially renowned for their innovative design, elegant form, and inclusion of poetic inscriptions, classic texts, signatures and seals incised in a variety of calligraphic styles which rivaled works by respected calligraphers and seal carvers of his time.

Three inscribed pewter vessels by Shen Cunzhou included in the exhibition organized by the Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, also shown at the China Institute Gallery, China Institute of America, New York, are published in the catalogue by Soong, Tea, Wine and Poetry: Qing Dynasty Literati and Their Drinking Vessels, Hong Kong, 2006, pp. 46-51: no. 4, Melon Shape Water Dropper, dated 1656; no. 5, Lotus Shape Wine Ewer, dated 1657; and no. 6, Wine Ewer with Overhead Handle, dated 1661.

十七世紀　沈存周製　錫詩文茶罐一對　高 9 厘米
　　　「心曠神怡」「獨樂園」詩文　「沈存周製」款　「存」「周」印
　　　「芝蘭之味」「陋室銘」詩文　「竹居主人」款　「竹居」印
　　　底銘「春日行近山」「綠蔭亭」詩文　「竹居」印

來源　東京商行 (繭山龍泉堂或壺中居)，1961
　　　私人收藏
　　　紐約佳士得 2006 年 9 月 19 日，拍品第 118 號
　　　水松石山房藏

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