Bamboo brush-holder depicting Marshal Guo Ziyi with his helmet and armor removed. Late Ming to early Qing dynasty.-China Archive

Bamboo brush-holder depicting Marshal Guo Ziyi with his helmet and armor removed. Late Ming to early Qing dynasty.

Image Number: K1G000158N000000000PAB
Dynasty: Ming dynasty
Category: Carvings
Function: Stationery
Material: Plants/Bamboo/
Description:
A section of thick bamboo trunk was taken from the whole vessel, and a bamboo knot was left at one end as the bottom of the vessel. After rectification, an old man with a long beard riding a horse was carved between the bamboo knots. He was dressed in a long robe, holding the reins in his left hand, and raising the front finger of the whip in his right hand. The four Hu people in front of the horse bent down on their knees facing the old man. Two of them bowed their hands and bowed their hips, their faces showing shame. The two of them looked like worshipers, and three of them knelt behind him. The old man on horseback followed a group of soldiers and soldiers, who came out of the mountain wall in the Han army uniforms in the opera. Two pine trees and rocks were carved in high relief between soldiers and Hu people. In the late Ming Dynasty, when the decorative patterns on bamboo carvings in Jiading were mainly landscape characters, pine trees and rocks were often used to connect the decorative patterns, regardless of the beginning and end. This brush pot was no exception. “Jiading Three Zhus” can write and draw well, so they can design different drafts by themselves, or move popular drafts to sculpture works at that time. They move the layout of painting to sculpture, so their works are usually complete in composition. The design of this brush pot is the heroic deeds of the Huihe invasion of the Tang Dynasty, when the senior general Guo Ziyi took off his armor and rode into the Huihe camp alone to persuade General Hu to retreat. The Painting of Zhou Exemption, written by Li Gonglin (1049-1106), a Tibetan legend in the academy, depicts the same theme. In the painting, Guo Ziyi dismounts to receive an interview from the Huihe generals. Although the composition of this painting is not exactly the same as that of this bamboo brush pot, the latter still shows the meaning of painting.