690 - Chinese Soapstone Brush Washer with Monkeys and Birds, Two Containers

Chinese Soapstone Brush Washer with Monkeys and Birds, Two Containers Soapstone, carved from a single block. Brush washer in the form of an openwork rocky landscape with two shallow oval bowls, the left one set higher than the right. The stone in a warm orange-red with fine grain. Above the containers two short-tailed monkeys climb across an arch of rock; all around openwork stone with small birds. Condition commensurate with age, chipping, a larger loss to the standing surface. 15.5 x 27 x 7 cm (HxWxD) Brush washers and brush rests belong to the four treasures of the Chinese scholar's studio, in which brush, ink, inkstone and paper came together as the writing equipment of the educated man. Soapstone, a soft talc rock, could be carved with simple tools down to the finest openwork and was therefore preferred for such desk implements; the natural colour layering of the stone was deliberately worked into the composition, dark inclusions becoming rock and bark, light passages becoming blossoms and fruit. In China the monkey stands for alertness and wit and is widely known as a sign of the zodiac; animal depictions of this kind belonged to the usual repertoire of motifs for the desk implements of the scholar's studio.