Antique Chinese Qing Biscuit Porcelain Scholar's Brush Pot Bitong Gold Fish 1850

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A rare antique 19th century Chinese Qing Dynasty, Daoguang period porcelain bitong or scholar's brushpot, by Wang Bingrong (1820-1875) , … Read more A rare antique 19th century Chinese Qing Dynasty, Daoguang period porcelain bitong or scholar's brushpot, by Wang Bingrong (1820-1875) , circa 1850.
This very beautiful brushpot of cylindrical form, having an exterior carved in relief with six gold fish swimming amongst water weeds, their eyes with black glaze. The text above reads; "The Pleasures of Fishes" (Yu Le Tu), the design is a classic Chinese art motif, often associated with with themes of abundance and happiness.
To the verso are two lines of text from 'Autumn Floods' by the the 4th century BCE philosopher Zhuangzi, "How do I know the joy of fish?" and the inverted phrase, "The joy of fish, I know". The convex base bearing an incised four-character mark for Wang Bingrong, plus two old Chinese collector's labels.
The brushpot is in excellent condition. A rare opportunity to acquire a mark and period piece of beautiful antique Chinese porcelain.

Wang Bingrong 王炳荣 (circa 1820-1875), was well known for his relief-carved porcelain. Wang Bingrong was the most commercially successful of the Daoguang period porcelain carvers and was active through at least the Xianfeng reign as well. This success enabled the family kiln to re-establish production relatively quickly even after the destruction caused by the Taiping rebellion. Wang Bingrong also produced several series of desk sets which would have included scholar's accessories such as the present brushpot, of exceedingly high quality. See T. Miller and H. Hui, 'Elegance in Relief: Carved Porcelain from Jingdezhen of the 19th to Early 20th Centuries'. See less