A Chinese Porcelain Cong Shaped Vase with Bapo Painting

Republic Period (1912-1949), a porcelain vase with pebbled texture, modeled after an archaic cong vessel with four sides raised on high circular foot and with a circular neck and mouth, hand painted with Bapo theme and with inscription in upper corners in black together with two red artist seal, the sides are flanked with elephant head faux handles with rings, the neck is encircled with red script.


17 in.

Bapo or “eight brokens” was an unconventional theme in Chinese art form that surfaced in the mid-19th century and continued until the end of the Republic period. Radically distinct from classical Chinese painting, it featured images, mainly objects of the written word, in fragmented form. This genre of painting often illustrated moth-eaten calligraphies, partial book pages, remnants of stone rubbings and seal inscriptions, torn letters and burned or decomposing paintings. While some of these artworks were meant to exhibit the deteriorating remnants of traditional culture and mourning for the past, others exhibited humor and hidden messages.

Good estate condition; surface with scattered discoloration.

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