692 - Chinese Soapstone Brush Washer with Peaches and Birds, Three Containers

Chinese Soapstone Brush Washer with Peaches and Birds, Three Containers Soapstone, carved from a single block. Small brush washer with three containers: at the back two tall cylindrical cups side by side, in front of them a shallow oval hollow. The stone in a pale grey-white with dark grey inclusions used for rocks. Between the cups a peach branch with modelled fruits and leaves climbs upwards; three birds are perched on the branch and the rock, the reverse worked as an openwork rock face. Condition commensurate with age, slight chipping. 12 x 15 x 4.5 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 peach is the symbol of longevity: according to tradition the peach tree of the Queen Mother of the West bears fruit only every three thousand years, and that fruit confers immortality. Depictions of peaches were therefore among the most popular birthday motifs.