Page 55 - Bloch-4

Glass, ink and water-colours; with a concave lip and recessed, convex oval foot surrounded by a protruding, rounded oval footrim; painted on one main side with an itinerant monk resting beside an expanse of water, drinking from a flask, his straw hat, staff and belongings on the ground behind him, with overhanging cliffs beyond from which a waterfall emerges to pour into the lake, or sea beside which he sits, with the sun rising on the horizon, inscribed in draft script 'Painted by Ding Erzhong,' with one seal of the artist, Ding, in negative regular script, the other main side with a group of auspicious objects (a natural rock sculpture, a bronze hu with loose ring handles containing a flowering peony and a branch of pine, a tripod incense burner with calamus, a basket containing lingzhi, two peaches growing on a branch, and loquats, and with half a sliced apple set in front of the basket along with a whole apple), inscribed in draft script 'In the

eleventh month of the year kuimao, Erzhong painted this in Baixia, following the painting ideas of Qingteng laoren,' with two seals of the artist, Ding, in negative regular script and

Baixia is another name for Nanjing and the glass bottle here is similar in form to the previous two, being much chubbier than the normal Beijing shape (see discussion under no. 557). If made by the same local glass-maker as the previous two examples, however, it appears that by now he has been pressed by Ding to produce better work, since the shape and detailing are much improved. The subject of the itinerant monk is unique for Ding. Quite apart from the subject of the monk beside the lake or sea, with the rising sun beyond, the size of the figure is rare, comparable works being nos. 545 and 546 in this