An unusual Chinese reeded bamboo brushpot, bitong, 18th/19th...

Hammer

£550

An unusual Chinese reeded bamboo brushpot, bitong, 18th/19th century, of oval section, warm caramel patina, 14cm high.

Provenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection., label no. 67.

CONDITION: A few minute losses to the rim with some wax filler. There is a long fine surface crack to one side which does not go through to the interior. There are some other occasional fine cracks to the base, otherwise ein good condition.



Provenance

Dr John William Hawksley Grice (1891-1976) is regarded as a very important collector of carving in Britain; at the time he was collecting, he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring Qing dynasty carvings. He wrote about 'Chinese Bamboo Carving' in Country Life in 1954, one of the first articles in English on the subject, and at the time he was collecting he appears to have been unique among his peers for admiring late carving. Dr Grice and his wife Kathleen moved to China in 1922 and he worked as a doctor in Tianjin for 30 years. He built his ivory and bamboo collection in China in the decades he spent there before leaving in 1952. He gave a sizeable proportion of his carved bamboo collection to London's Victoria and Albert Museum and donated other ivories and bamboo to the British Museum.