Brush Washer Base

This is the base for a Chinese wood carving of a brush washer. The washer was created from zitan wood, the hardest and heaviest of the hardwoods, and is considered a reliable material for Chinese decorative arts. The scarcity of large zitan trees also increases the value of items created with this material.

Lacquerware of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was typically produced in government-sponsored workshops and carved by craftsmen already experienced in crafting works of bamboo and ivory. The rapid political and economic decline of the Qing Dynasty following the reign of Qianlong (1735-1796) resulted in the closing down of many palace workshops, and the lacquer items made afterwards were fewer and had diminished in quality.

Cameron, Nigel. The Chinese Scholar's Desk. Hong Kong: FormAsia Books, 2003.

Hutt, Julia. Understanding Far Eastern Art: A Complete Guide to the Arts of China, Japan and Korea - Ceramics, Sculpture, Painting, Prints, Lacquer, Textiles and Metalwork. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987.

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures. Sculpted Stories: Selected Works from the Fred Freund Collection. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d.

Watt, James C. Y., and Barbara Brennan Ford. East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.