Pair of Chinese Bamboo Vertical Flutes ‘Xiao’ each Inscribed in Their Original Box Inscribed ‘Made by Zhang Lunshan of Yuping Guizhou’

Date: Circa 1912 - 1920

Period: Early Republic

Medium: Wood

Dimension: 62 cm (24³/₈ inches)

Provenance: Ex Private Hong Kong collection
Ex Hugh Moss 1994
Ex Finch and Co, catalogue item no. 17, catalogue no. 30, 2018
Ex Oliver Hoare Ltd.
Ex Private collection

Literature: The Chinese province of Guizhou is famous for its excellent bamboo flutes which are a symbol of the Chinese scholar. Its sound was sacred and was traditionally said to be carried by one of the eight immortals called Han Xiangzi. Each flute is inscribed with a poem extolling the inspiring sound that it produces and of the beauty of the ‘Jade Lady’ who plays it:

‘Under the bright moonlight
to which family does this Jade Lady belong ?
playing a song under a quarter moon
the lofty thoughts of a scholar may match those of Sima Qian
the ancient flying tunes of a thousand years past
come alive in this Zhaoji studio’

Sima Qian was an ancient historian of the early Han dynasty (died 86 BC) and regarded as a paragon of scholarly virtues.