A Chinese bamboo wrist rest, Kangxi period, carved in relief...

Hammer

£1,100

A Chinese bamboo wrist rest, Kangxi period, carved in relief with a horse, pine and rock to a roundel and incised with a three column calligraphic inscription, warm caramel brown patina, 24cm high.



Provenance - Dr J W H Grice (1891-1976) collection, label no.37. This wrist rest is illustrated in Dr Grice's article 'Chinese Bamboo Carving' in Country Life magazine in 1954.

CONDITION: Small old splinter to the two top corners and to the bottom edge with patina to the areas.



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.