Artwork Page for Brush Holder with Bamboo and Landscape Design

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Brush Holder with Bamboo and Landscape Design

대나무 산수무늬 팔각필통 [竹山水文八各筆筒]

1800s

Korea, Joseon dynasty

(1392–1910)
Medium
carved bamboo
Measurements
Overall: 10.1 x 9 cm (4 x 3 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1988.74
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Stationery objects such as this brush holder were highly appreciated among scholars, not only for their function, but for their aesthetic.

Description

An 18th-century Korean collector Yu Man-joo (1755–1788) wrote that “spending money on luxury clothing, dishes, and decorations for the home is a waste, but acquiring fancy writing tools helps to develop elegant taste and high-mindedness.”

Inspired by aesthetic discourses on elegance versus vulgarity in late Ming Chinese literature, Korean collectors in the late 1700s and 1800s strove to assemble objects that would display their intellect and sophisticated taste. Stationery objects in particular—printed books, finely crafted brushes, brush holders, ink stones, water droppers, stone wares with grayish-white crackled glazes as well as bronze vessels, and incense burners—were all objects that reflected pure and elegant taste.
A warm-brown hexagonal bamboo brush holder is covered in deep relief carvings. Six vertical panels feature a continuous landscape of craggy mountains rising toward the rim. Small buildings nestle among clusters of pine trees, while centrally, a bridge crosses water beneath a drooping willow. Intricate textures of rocks and foliage fill the surface. The vessel sits on a dark brown, six-sided wooden base with flared edges.

Brush Holder with Bamboo and Landscape Design

1800s

Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)

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