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Wrist rest

Wrist rest

  • Place of origin:

    Zhangzhou (made)

  • Date:

    1983 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Fan, Yaoqing (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Bamboo, carved

  • Museum number:

    FE.68-1984

  • Gallery location:

    China, Room 44, The T.T. Tsui Gallery, case 65

Chinese scholars used wrist rests while composing calligraphy. In ancient times the Chinese wrote with a brush, in vertical lines from right to left. The ink on the paper did not dry quickly enough as the writer moved from one line to the next, and the wrist rest prevented the written lines from being smeared.

Although the Chinese people seldom write with a brush nowadays the craft of bamboo carving is kept alive. Fan Yaoqing is a master of this art form.

Physical description

Decoration: Birds on a branch, rocks and chrysanthemums, carved in 'liu qing' (leaving the green) technique

Place of Origin

Zhangzhou (made)

Date

1983 (made)

Artist/maker

Fan, Yaoqing (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Bamboo, carved

Marks and inscriptions

Signed, dated and seals of carver at bottom right and upper left corners

Dimensions

Height: 8.8 cm, Width: 39.6 cm

Object history note

Bought in China by Rose Kerr, AK/FED in course of trip to China to acquire 20th c. material in 1984, through the agency of Wang Shixiang

Descriptive line

Woo, China, carving, bamboo

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Rose Kerr 'Contemporary Chinese crafts' V&A Album 4, 1985, p. 322, fig. 5
Wang Shixiang\Wan-go Weng,'Bamboo Carving of China',China House Gallery, (New York, 1983), no 85:Li Yimin(pen-name of Wang Shixiang), 'Nongmin zhudiao jia','Renmin Ribao',6.3.85:Wang Shixiang, 'Langgan lou ba geng chun yu','Wenhua yu shenghuo',5.85,15-16

Production Note

Biographical reference: Wang Shixiang/Wan-go Weng, 'Bamboo Carving of China', China House gallery, (New York, 1983), no 85
Changzhou, Jiangsu province, CHINA

Categories

Household objects

Collection

East Asia Collection

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