A TURQUOISE-GLAZED ‘FIVE PEAKS’ BRUSH-REST

390.

A TURQUOISE-GLAZED ‘FIVE PEAKS’ BRUSH-REST
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
9 x 10 cm
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3770.

Brush rest in the shape of five peaks, with a higher peak to the centre and four smaller to the sides, were produced in Jingdezheng already from the Yuan period, and continuously during the Ming dynasty.
Each of the peaks of these type of brush-rest symbolizes one of the “Five Great Mountains” (Wuyue), a group of famous Chinese mounts associated to the cardinal points (centre, east, west, south and north) and considered to be sacred according to traditional religion, especially Daoism (Taishang in Shandong, Huashan in Shaanxi, Hengshan in Hunan, Hengshan in Shanxi, Songshan in Henan). Starting from the Western Han dynasty, all the emperors periodically reached them to officiate rituals. In the course of time, a number of temples were built on their slopes, attracting many pilgrims and visitors even today.
Older brush-rests of this type could present the peaks naturalistically moulded (see for example the item in the British Museum in London, dating from the Zhengde period and with an arabic inscription: J. Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of the Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London 2001, n. 8:3) or a more stylized shape (see the piece from the Percival David Foundation in the same museum, also this one from the early sixteenth century and made to be exported to the Ottoman court: S. Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London 2004, p. 42, n. A642).
In this later example in the Duca di Martina Museum – with a pierced basement with plants and bats – the shape of the peaks is further simplified, assuming the aspect of spear’s points.

A very similar brush rest from the collection of Gustaf VI Adolf King of Sweden (1882-1973) is now in the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Stockholm (inv. OM-1974-1137).