Chinese Porcelain Kangxi Brush Pot Monochrome Turquoise Qing Dynasty 18th C. Scholar's Object

A Chinese porcelain reticulated monochrome turquoise ‘Three Friends of Winter’ brush pot.
China, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1661-1722).

Ref: 
A brush pot, also reticulated and with a Three Friends of Winter decor, is in the British Museum collection, museum number: Franks.1554

Lit:
Bartholomew, Terese Tse - Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art p. 210, nr. 7.47.2.

About Three Friends of Winter:
Pine (song 松), bamboo (zhu 竹) and plum (mei 梅) = Three Friends of Winter (suihan sanyou 歲寒三友). The pine and bamboo remain green in the icy weather, while the plum is the first to bloom each year. These three plants are models of fortitude and uprightness in adverse conditions. The Chinese admire this type of resistance to the elements. All three are longevity symbols because the pine and bamboo are evergreens, and the pine and plum live for a long time.

About turquoise glaze:
Turquoise glaze owes its color to copper oxide in an alkaline glaze mixture. It has a long history in Chinese ceramics, dating back at least to the Tang dynasty. Interest in turquoise glaze was also present among Middle Eastern potters, though their methods to achieve similar results differed. The technology varied depending on the material the glaze was applied to.

One of the curiosities of the Chinese potters' techniques was their use of saltpeter, a soluble material, often unfitted. The saltpeter was mixed with quartz and water (and sometimes with lead oxides or carbonates) to create low-temperature glazes.

After analyzing a late 19th-century raw turquoise glaze used at Jingdezhen, the renowned French ceramic chemist Georges Vogt wrote in 1900:

'The simplicity with which the Chinese prepare this turquoise ... is truly remarkable. Nothing in its composition needs to be melted, or to be fitted. The only preparation needed is to grind together the saltpeter, the quartz and the copper powder in suitable proportions and it is ready to be used on porcelain vases.'

Dimensions:
Height 10 cm, diameter 6.2 cm.

Condition:
Small hairline of ca 0.5 cm under the glaze to the mouth rim. Furthermore in perfect condition.

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Inv. No: MW64