Water Dropper thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Water Dropper

ca. 1800-1850 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
China (made)

Moulded gourd pot, hexagonal, with poetic phrase round the six sides 'qiu yue shui hu jiao ying' (autumn moon and vessel of ice reflect each other), mouth fitted with a fine ivory ring set in gilt foil


Object details

Category
Writing
Object type
Water dropper
Materials and techniques
Gourd, moulded
Gourd
Moulded
Brief description
Water dropper, moulded gourd, China, Qing dynasty, ca. 1800-1850
Physical description
Moulded gourd pot, hexagonal, with poetic phrase round the six sides 'qiu yue shui hu jiao ying' (autumn moon and vessel of ice reflect each other), mouth fitted with a fine ivory ring set in gilt foil
Dimensions
  • Height: 5cm
  • At base diameter: 5.9cm
Style
Qing
Credit line
Sir John Addis Gift
Object history
From Register:
Similar washers in the Palace Museum, Beijing (Gugong Bowuyuan Yuankan no. 1, 1979, p. 49)

The brush-washer is made from an almost entire gourd completely encased in a sectional mould, with only the junction of the stem cut off to make the mouth. The poem is probably an allusion to a quatrain by the Tang poet Wang Wei. The poet sends news to himself to Loyang by a returning traveller "There is a heart of ice in the vessel of jade". Ice denotes purity and jade other noble qualities. The phrase on the brush-washer thus evokes the correspondence between the austere purity of the scholar's heart (vessel of ice) and the most perfect of all natural phenomena (autumn moon).
Bibliographic references
  • Clunas, Craig. Chinese Carving. London: Sun Tree Publishing Ltd in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1996. p. 68, fig. 83.
  • Addis, J.M. 'Impressed Gourds'. Oriental Art, 1964. N.S. vol. X, no. 1.
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
FE.165-1975

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O461129/water-dropper-unknown/
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