A BLUE AND WHITE 'SPRING EVENING BANQUET' BRUSHPOT, BITONG Kangxi Of cylindrical form, painted in vibrant cobalt-blue to the exterior with a scene of a scholarly gathering, attended by a lady seated beside a square table playing a musical instrument and boy attendants variously engaged in carrying scrolls, brewing tea, and holding ewers, all beneath the moon and beside a large gnarled rock, accompanied by a long inscription ending with a seal, the base unglazed and recessed at the centre. 19.2cm (7 1/2in) diam. Footnotes: Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 清康熙 青花春夜宴桃李圖詩文筆筒 青花「書帶☐☐」篆書款 Provenance: acquired from R & G McPherson Antiques, London, in 2003 (collector's notes) Published and Illustrated: M.White, Living at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White collection, vol.4, n.p, 2023, p.184 來源：獲得于倫敦古董商R & G McPherson Antiques，2003年（藏家筆記） 著錄：M.White，《Living at the Whites' House: Ceramics from the Mary and Peter White collection》，第4冊，無出版地，2023年，第184頁 The scene on the brushpot depicts an elegant gathering of literati, reflecting the high esteem with which poetry and the cultivated enjoyment of seasonal beauty was central to the moral and aesthetic life of China's scholarly elite. The inscription reads: 春夜宴桃李園序 夫天地者，萬物之逆旅；光陰者，百代之過客。而浮生若夢，為歡幾何？古人秉燭夜遊，良有以也。況陽春召我以煙景，大塊假我以文章，會桃李之芳園，序天倫之樂事。群季俊秀，皆為惠連；吾人詠歌，獨慚康樂。幽賞未已，高談轉清。開瓊筵以坐花，飛羽觴而醉月，不有佳作，何伸雅懷？如詩不成，罰依金谷酒數。 Which may be translated as: Preface to the Spring Evening Banquet at the Peach and Pear Blossom Garden. Heaven and earth are but a temporary lodging for all things, and time a passing guest through a hundred generations. Human life drifts by like a dream; how much joy can it hold? That the ancients took up candles to wander by night was not without reason. Now, as the warmth of spring beckons us with its hazy beauty, and Nature lends us its literary inspiration, we gather in the fragrant garden of peach and plum to set in order the pleasures of family companionship. The assembled brothers are all men of talent, are all (Liuxia) Hui and (Shao) Lian; while among us who chant and sing, I alone blush to be unworthy of Kangle (Xie Lingyun). Our quiet enjoyment is not yet exhausted, and lofty discourse grows ever more refined. We open a banquet and sit among the flowers; winged cups fly as we drink beneath the moon. Without fine compositions, how could our elegant sentiments find expression? Any participant unable to complete a poem is to be penalized with (three dou of) wine according to the Golden Valley rules. The above is attributed to Li Bai (701-762). It is therefore likely that the decoration depicts the Spring Evening Banquet itself, an interpretation supported by the moon incorporated into the design. Composed around 733, the poem opens with a reflection on the transience of life and describes Li Bai drinking and composing verse during a spring evening with friends, surrounded by the fragrance of peach blossoms. It concludes with a playful admonition: those who fail to contribute a poem must drink in penalty, a motif echoed in the lively imagery of the brushpot. See a related blue and white brushpot of slightly waisted cylindrical form but with a related scene of the Spring Banquet, Kangxi, illustrated by Chen Runmin, Gugong bowuyuan cang Qingdai ciqi leixuan, Qing Shunzhi Kangxi chao qinghuaci, vol.1, Beijing, 2004, pl.211. See a related blue and white 'spring evening banquet' brushpot, Kangxi, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 March 2017, lot 668. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing