Zhu Sansong’s pen holder for the portrait of a lady carved in bamboo

[Zhu Sansong Bamboo Painting Penholder]

Zhu Sansong Bamboo Painting Penholder, 14.6 cm high, 7.8 cm caliber
The pen holder is made of bamboo, brownish red, and bears three short feet. The cylinder wall is carved with patterns of pine, rock, orchid and lady. The lady wears a hood, holds an orchid, and stands against the stone wall. The ancient pine goes out through the rock. The pine branches stretch out and twist like a dragon. Panasonic has a stone platform with cups, inkstones and other tools. A poem written by the Emperor Qianlong in official script is engraved on the rock wall beside the lady:
It is not expected to be exquisite and ancient, and it will be preserved for a long time
The raw face leans slightly on the bamboo, and the rock orchid is silent in the hand
There is a reason to create a neighbor crane. He is good at painting, but he seldom stays
Carved bamboo is still a piece of feather, but it is also a valuable piece of fur
Emperor Qianlong Dingyou’s new theme of the moon
“0521” and “Long” are engraved on the back. Ding You was the forty-second year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1777). On the wall on the other side of the pen holder is the inscription “Wanli Jiayin, Autumn Moon and Three Pines”. Jiayin is the forty-second year of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1614)
Among the various works carved by Zhu Zhizheng, most of them are about ladies. In terms of carving techniques, he mainly used relief, and sometimes combined with techniques such as rough carving, shallow carving, deep carving, leaving blue, and openwork. This pen holder uses a variety of techniques to depict the patterns and manners of mountains, pines, flowers, and ladies. There is ink in the knife technique, and the tree-stone texturing method is quite picturesque. This pen holder made by a famous artist was brought into the palace and appreciated by the emperor.

朱三松竹雕仕女图笔筒款识笔筒上的乾隆御制诗