λ A LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE CHINESE IVORY CARVING.

Qing Dynasty, by Liang Wei.

Exquisitely carved and pierced in the round from the rim to the tapering foot, to depict a young bride surveying from a high window a pine and willow covered landscape densely populated with figures and animals, inscribed below the rim with a poem by Wang Changling, and signed, Liang Wei, 64cm long, 2.3kg.

*Please note this lot may be subject to CITES regulations.*

清 象牙雕人物故事圖紋擺件

款識：閨中少婦不知愁，春日凝妝上翠樓。忽見陌頭楊柳色，悔教夫婿覓封侯。梁伟作

「雁門」, 「西城」, 「闗」, 「司馬」款

The inscription quotes from the poem Gui Yuan by the poet Wang Changling during the period of the Tang Dynasty which has been translated thus by Xu Yuanchon:

Sorrow of a Young Bride in Her Boudoir

The young bride in her boudoir does not know what grieves.

She mounts the tower, gaily dressed, on a spring day.

Suddenly seeing by roadside green willow leaves,

How she regrets her lord seeking fame far away!

The carving places the young bride as an omniscient observer at the top of a scene populated with a fantastical landscape laid out before her. Some of the scenes may be recognised as depicting stories drawn from the wider pantheon of Chinese literature, and with her husband away, it is particularly poignant that some of these relate to famous battles. The flag bearing the inscription Sima indicates the warriors riding beneath represent the States of Cao Wei and their proximity to the walled gate inscribed Xi Cheng recall the order given by the military general Zhuge Ke of the Eastern Wu to invade the city. This was one of the decisive campaigns in the great Battle of Dongxing towards the end of the Three Kingdoms period.

Elsewhere, warriors riding beneath another flag, inscribed guan, indicate that they form part of the army of Guan Yu, made famous in the classic work, Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Another touching scene visible towards the tapering base of the tusk depicts the heroic Zhou Tanzi, from the seventh of the twenty-four tales of filial piety. The plucky youngster is in the process of securing milk for his ailing parents from a herd of deer whilst dressed as one of the animals so as not to raise the deer’s suspicion, when a group of hunters spy him almost shooting him before he reveals his true identity.

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