紐約佳士得2006年3月29日，編號447

整體品相良好。內見些許爆釉。足壁見一道微細釉下窰燒瑕疵。
我們很高興為您提供上述拍品狀況報告。由於敝公司非專業修復人員，在此敦促您徵詢其他專業修復人員，以獲得更詳盡、專業之報告。

準買家應該檢查每件拍品以確認其狀況，蘇富比所作的任何陳述均為主觀看法而非事實陳述。雖然本狀況報告或有針對某拍品之討論，但所有拍賣品均根據印於圖錄內之業務規則以拍賣時狀況出售。

The palette and style of painting of the present piece relate closely to an early type of Kangxi porcelain known as Zhonghetang wares, all of which are inscribed with cyclical dates corresponding to 1671, 1672, and 1673, and were made, according to inscriptions on each, for the Zhonghetang (Hall of Central Harmony). Long assumed to be located in the Forbidden City, the exact location of this Hall has never been identified, leading to recent speculation about the source of the commission. For an example with a Zhonghetang mark, see a porcelain dish, dated 1672, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 6.

These elegant shallow boxes evolved as ideal containers for seal paste, which is thick, fibrous, derived from silk or plant matter with cinnabar or vermillion added for bright red color, and the perfect medium to adhere to carved stone, bone or metal seals. Receptacles for the paste were a necessary scholarly accoutrement and were made in various materials including lacquer, jade, ivory and porcelain such as the present example. The poignant depiction of the wandering scholar, longing for retreat in nature where lofty intellectual accomplishments might be fulfilled without interruption, was a theme familiar to any scholar-official. The painted scene served as a vicarious means of escape from the endless bureaucratic tasks and would have been a welcome addition to a scholar's studio.