Provenance:
- With Pierre Saqué, Paris (label)
- Private Collection, United Kingdom
Condition Report Available
€ 12,000
This object can be viewed in our gallery.
This water pot is in the shape of a reclining figure, slouched against a large green wine jar. The corpulent man is dressed in loose robes, decorated with the Egg & Spinach glazes. He rests his chin on his crossed arms, long flowing sleeves covering both hands. His scowling face has a wispy beard, moustache and eyebrows all picked out in very dark brown enamels. A black scholars cap covers his head. His bent left leg is crossed over his straight right leg, black shoes peeking out from under his robes. The jar was a useful Chinese scholars desk object, intended to hold water for wetting calligraphy brushes. A hole at the bottom of the jar also allows water to flow into the body; by tipping the container water can be dropped through a small hole in his right ear onto the calligraphers ink stone.
The reclining figure, is that of the well-known Tang Dynasty romantic poet Li Bai (701-766 AD) , also referred to as Li Taibo the Poet Immortal. He was known as one of the greatest imperial poets of the period, but became additionally famous for his great drunkenness. The topic of wine drinking featured regularly in his writing, as well as the beauty of the moon. He went on to become a great inspiration to many Chinese literati and is therefore an often depicted figure on drinking cups, as well as being portrayed leaning drunkenly against a wine jar. It is said he drowned from leaning over the edge of a boat in a drunken effort to embrace the moon.
Li Bai water pots - with varying enamel decoration - can be found in the Royal Collection, UK (RCIN 100981) and collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (C.1105-1910) and in Musée Guimet, Paris (G5082). An example with European mounts is in the Laura Collection (Italy).
Ayers 2016, nr. 547 p.257
Hobson 1925-1928, pl. XXVI
Scagliola 2012, nr. 269
Stamen 2017, nr. 34.
Welch 2008, p. 55 & 165-166
Williams 1976, p.281
A cup of wine, under the flowering trees
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.
The moon alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave,
I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams,
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun,
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.
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