Beschreibung:

A DOCUMENTARY ENAMELLED 'LANDSCAPE' BRUSHPOT, BITONGSigned Li Minglan and Huang Zhichong, cyclically dated to the Gengyin Year corresponding to 1890 and of the period
The cylindrical vessel enamelled around the exterior with a scene of mountains dotted with various trees and pavilions, all beside large bodies of water, calligraphic inscription, the mouth rim gilt. 13cm (5 1/8in) high.Footnotes庚寅年(1890年) 李明嵐及黃志崇款淺绛彩山水圖筆筒
Provenance: Peter Wain Oriental Art, Anglesey, 17 October 2002
Published and Illustrated: S.Marsh, Brushpots: A Collector's View, Hong Kong, 2020, pp.272-273
來源：古董商Peter Wain Oriental Art，安格爾西島，2002年10月17日
著录：S.Marsh，《筆筒淵鑒：收藏家的隨心所悟》，香港，2020年，第272-273頁
The present lot was decorated by Li Minglan who was active during the Guangxu period (1875-1908), and inscribed by Huang Zhicong with his name beside the calligraphy. The inscription reads:
扁舟一棹, 維庚寅建午月，仿白易山人之筆法。李明嵐
Which may be translated as:
An oar and sampan, done in the Gengyin Year (1890), imitating the brushwork of Bai Yingshan. Li Minglan
Bai Yingshan (白易山人) is the hao or nom de plume of Chen Chun 陳淳 (1483-1544), a famous painter from Suzhou. Born into a wealthy family of scholar officials, he originally studied calligraphy from Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), one of the Four Masters of the Wu School, but later broke away to create his own distinctive style with a strong influence of Mi Fu (1051-1107) from the Song dynasty. The inscription's reference to this artist reflects how craftsmen in the late Qing dynasty became more strongly influenced by classical models of painting, especially those of the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
The influence of classical painting on porcelain led to a style known as qianjiang or 'pale umber', because the decorated porcelain resembled paintings done with ink on slightly warm-toned paper or silk. The inclusion of the artist-craftsmen signatures - Li Minglan and Huang Zhicong - on the brushpot reflects a further trend in the late Qing dynasty when craftsmen were no longer seen as anonymous manufacturers, but artists in their own right; developing their own unique styles and sufficiently independent from the Court, which at this time was in turmoil, to accept commissions from patrons.
See for example a related porcelain plaque with similar mountainous landscape, dated to 1898, by Ren Huanzhang, in the British Museum, London (acc.no.1998,1219.1)