Unusual Chinese brush pot carved in Zitan, naturalistically worked in resemblance to a tree trunk, the inside hollowed and the exterior carved with fine details of nodes and organic contours, the body of a dark brown hue.
A similar zitan tree trunk brushpot is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2002, p.56, no.51. Compare also a smaller example illustrated by Gerald Tsang and Hugh Moss in Art from the Scholar’s Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, pg. 108, no. 71, where it is pointed out how much such brushpots encapsulate the literati ideal.

此筆筒為紫檀製成，形似樹根，内部根據自然形狀挖空，外壁雕以樹節和紋路。色澤深沉，紋路清晰，質樸典雅，是文房陳設之佳器。有一相似的紫檀樹幹筆筒陳列于北京故宮，詳情見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系-竹木牙角雕刻》（香港，2002年，56頁，51号）另一筆筒詳見Gerald Tsang与Hugh Moss所著Art from Scholar’s Studio（香港，1986年，108頁，71号）