Grasping Meaning

Zixin子伈, 1820-1900
Height: 5.5 cm
Mouth: 0.4 cm
Stopper: stained quartz; pearl finial

Provenance:
Eldred’s, Cape Cod, 24 August 2001, lot 69
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

 

Coconut shell; of compressed ovoid form from two convex segments of the shell joined at the narrow sides; engraved on one side with a mountainous landscape scene with trees in orthodox, literati style, the other main side with a poetic couplet followed by the signature of the inscriber Zixin 子伈

The couplet is of unknown authorship.

得意琹書皆作友, 會心魚鳥亦親人

They grasp my meaning: qin and books both become my friends;

They know my heart: fish and birds also draw close to me.

Alexander Whittaker