AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE BLUE AND WHITE '384 SHOU' BRUSHPOT, BITONGKangxi six-character mark and of the periodThe cylindrical vessel rising from a grooved foot ring, painted around the exterior of the straight walls in vibrant tones of cobalt-blue with 384 Shou ('longevity') characters in various calligraphic styles of seal script. 17cm (6 3/4in) diam. Footnotes:清康熙 青花寿字笔筒青花「大清康熙年製」楷書款Provenance: J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art, New York, 10 December 1990Exhibited: Oriental Ceramic Society, China Without Dragons, Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members, London, 2016, no.149Published and Illustrated: Oriental Ceramic Society, China Without Dragons, London, 2018, p.248, no.149 S.Marsh, Brushpots: A Collector's View, Hong Kong, 2020, pp.11 (fig.6), 118-121來源：紐約古董商 J.J. Lally & Co. Oriental Art，1990年12月10日展覽：東方瓷器協會，《China Without Dragons, Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members》，倫敦，2016年，149號錄著：東方瓷器協會，《China Without Dragons, Rare Pieces from Oriental Ceramic Society Members》，倫敦，2016年，149號S.Marsh，《Brushpots: A Collector's View》，香港，2020年，頁11（插圖 6），頁118-121The present brushpot with continuous rows of 384 Shou ('longevity') characters in different forms of seal script, channelled foot ring and Imperial reign mark, is extremely rare. There is a closely related brushpot with Shou characters in underglaze copper-red, Kangxi, but supported on three short feet and with no mark on the base, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, Shanghai, 2000, p.182, no.166, where the authors note that it was made in the late Kangxi period. Another related blue and white brushpot decorated with Shou characters, Chenghua six-character mark, Kangxi, with flat and slightly recessed 'button' base, is in the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (acc.no.2000.0081). Stylistically, the present brushpot with numerous Shou characters is also related to a large blue and white 'ten thousand Shou character' zun vase, Kangxi, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, Shanghai, 2000, pp.8-9, no.5. Another similar blue and white zun vase with Shou characters, Kangxi, is in the Nanjing Museum, and illustrated in Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, no.12. See also a blue and white baluster vase, Kangxi, decorated with Shou characters in various seal script, illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghuaci, Beijing, 2005, p.436.With regards to the date of the present lot, the channelled foot ring suggests that it was made in the early Kangxi period. The channelled foot ring is a feature that appeared in the Shunzhi reign. A blue and white brushpot with channelled foot, cyclically dated to 1667, serves to demonstrate that by this year, the potters were still producing pieces with an unglazed channel foot ring. Extant pieces bearing cyclical dates show that by 1671, fully developed unglazed channel foot rings were commonly used. This channelled foot ring however, virtually disappeared by the late Kangxi reign; see T.Canepa and K.Butler, Leaping the Dragon Gate: The Sir Michael Butler Collection of 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain, London, 2021, p.374. Therefore, it is very likely that the present brushpot was made circa 1670's. Another clue that the present lot could have been made in the 1670's, is the close stylistic relationship between the style of the Shou characters and a dictionary re-published in 1670. The characters on the present brushpot include unusual variants of the Shou character including in so-called 'tadpole' script (kedou wen 蝌蚪文) and 'birds and worms' script (niaochong wen 鳥蟲文). The characters on the brushpot appear to be based on the Jinshi yunfu (金石韻府) or 'Treasury of Ancient Characters on Bronze and Stone', an epigraphic dictionary that combines characters from earlier dictionaries and a wide range of sources. It was originally compiled by the Ming scholar Zhu Yun in 1530, but in 1670 another edition was published, from which the present lot may have been based on. The Kangxi reign ushered in a new age for epigraphy with numerous scholars and Imperially sponsored projects compiling new dictionaries; the largest among these was the 'Kangxi Dictionary' published in 1716, the most authoritative dictionary of Chinese characters from the 18th century until the 20th century. The proliferation of dictionaries reflects the Kangxi emperor's personal concern for Confucian culture and to foster the standardisation of the writing system. This paved the way for the height of the 'searching for evidence' movement (kaozheng 考證) in the Qianlong era: a rigorous new philology that sparked closer scrutiny of stone inscriptions and inscriptions on archaic bronze. The fascination for characters can be seen on a screen with Shou characters, used in the background of a painting of a lady; see 'Twelve Beauties at Leisure Painted for Prince Yinzhen', late Kangxi, illustrated in China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, London, 2005, pp.258-259. Scholars generally accept the large blue and white zun vases with Shou characters mentioned above, were ordered by the Kangxi Emperor for his grandmother, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's (1613-1688) 60th birthday (corresponding to 1673 in the Gregorian calendar). Furthermore, in 1674, the major kilns in Jingdezhen were razed to the ground following the chaos and suppression of the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673-1681). The rebuilding of the kilns was not completed until 1684. It therefore seems likely that the present lot was also made for the occasion of an Imperial birthday before 1674. Another opinion, though less likely, is that the present lot was made after 1684, for the occasion of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's 75th birthday (1687, by Chinese count), which would correspond to the period when several vessels were written and signed by Gong Yuzi (攻玉子). Gong Yuzi was apparently active for only a three year period between the 26th and 28th years of the Kangxi reign (1687-1689). According to research by Lu Chenglong, 'Jianwei zhizhu - You xin faxian de yi xiao kuai cipian tan Kangxi qinghua wanshou zun' (Recognising the Whole from one Small Part: New Discoveries from a Kangxi Blue and White Ten Thousand Shou Character Zun Vase) in Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, no.6, 2002, pp.114-123, which shows a blue and white brushpot signed by Yu Gonzi; Lu argues tenuously that Yu Gongzi possibly inscribed the calligraphy for the Shou character zun vases. See a blue and white brushpot with the 'Ode to Red Cliff', Wenzhang shandou mark, signed by Gong Yuzi, illustrated in Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghua ci, Beijing, 2005, no.213. Another blue and white brushpot signed by Gong Yuzi, decorated with Shou characters, is in a private collection in Beijing an... 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