A FINELY CARVED BAMBOO 'LANDSCAPE' WRIST REST18th/19th centurySuperbly carved in theliu qing technique, reserving the paler skin of the bamboo, to depict a mountainous landscape with a scholar and his attendant holding a wrappedqin, crossing a bridge below pine and various trees, approaching a mountain lodge with a scholar seated in its window, the scene further surrounded by other mountain pavilions with figures seated inside, the top left with a poetic inscription followed by the signature Dao (jun), and two seals which together readrulai ('wishing for the arrival'), cloth bag and Japanese wood box.21cm (8 1/4in) long (3).Provenance: 十八/十九世紀 竹雕風景人物圖臂擱「道峻」款Provenance:A Japanese private collectionAcquired in Hong Kong in 2012來源:日本私人收藏2012年入藏於香港It is interesting to note that bamboo wrist rests were regularly transformed in Japan into tea-scoops for the tea ceremony. This is evident in the inscription on the wood box in the present lot, which readsTangren diaoke chaliang 唐人作彫刻茶量, meaning 'Chinese carved tea-scoop', the underside of the lid signed by the inscriber, Zhou州 with his seal.The poetic inscription on the wrist restes from a quatrain by the obscure late-Yuan artist Huang Jin (1277-1357) entitledXia ri man shu (Written carelessly on a summer day). It reads:Bishan yuyu qing yu hao, Lulin wufeng wan lai liang碧山遇雨晴逾好綠林無風晚來凉which may be translated as'After one encounters rain in the grey-green mountains, a clear sky is even finer.Having no breeze in the green woods and since evening it has been cool.'Rulai is the Tathagata, which generally refers to the Buddha, suggesting that Daojun could be a monk's name as there were several monks by that name in pre-Qing times.此拍品的日本盒子上帶有「唐人作彫刻茶量」的題款，可見竹臂擱在日本常被用成茶道用的茶勺（茶量）。此臂擱竹制，呈覆瓦狀，包漿自然。正面不多加修飾，以留青方式飾山水圖，線條清晰，臂擱上行書詩文為「碧山遇雨晴逾好，綠林無風晚來凉」，出自元代文學家黃溍《夏日漫書》，意思是灰綠的山間下雨之後，晴空加倍美好。綠色的樹林内無風，自傍晚開始卻也顯得清涼。落「道峻」款，「如來」印。整體構圖嚴謹自然，工藝精湛，技法嫺熟，實用性與藝術性並重。在清朝以前，就有多位僧人名曰道峻，名字也適合僧人所用。 如來泛指佛陀，所以在這裏也切合道峻作爲僧人的假設。