A fine Chinese Brushpot Bitong ‘Washing the Elephant’

The brush pot of large size with slightly curved sides, painted in rich tones of underglaze blue with the scene of ‘Washing the Elephant’; the full frontal representation of the elephant masterfully painted, the beast looking on with some trepidation as four servants are about to wash him, another servant already on his back, nearby a monk and a military figure look on and behind the monk by the gnarled ancient trees an old goat stands, the picture completed by swirling clouds and rock work, all between two borders of anhua incised pattern, the base unglazed. Period: Ming dynasty (1368 1644), Chongzhen period (1628 44). Height: 20 cm.

The decoration on this Shunzhi Ming brushpot depicts a scene known as ‘Washing the Elephant’ (’saoxiang’, literally ’sweeping the elephant’). The word ’xiang’ is a homophone for elephant and illusion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a hanging scroll (accession number 1976.191) of this subject by Chen Zi (1632‑1711). The painting bears an inscription suggesting that Ming dynasty scholars saw this subject as a pun for washing away illusions.

In this traditional scene, a white elephant is depicted being washed by four servants - one standing on top with a broom, one holding the elephant, and two on the other side. An initial link between the white elephant and Buddhism was revealed in connection with the birth of the Buddha. According to the legend, his mother, Queen Maya, was childless for many years after her marriage, but one night had a very vivid dream in which she was transported by four devas (spirits) to Lake Anotatta in the Himalayas. She was then visited by a white elephant holding a white lotus in its trunk, which walked around her three times before entering her womb through her right side. Tradition has it that the Buddha took the form of a white elephant in order to be reborn for the last time on Earth.

For a similar example of this scene on a brush pot see the Metropolitan Museum, Accession Number: 2008.80.

For this type of brush pot with anhua borders and different scene see the Metropolitan Museum Accession Number: 79.2.366.

Two wucai jars with similar scenes of an elephant being washed is illustrated by M. Butler, J B Curtis and S.Little, Treasures from an Unknown Reign: Shunzhi Porcelain, 1644‑1661, Seattle and London, 2002, p. 94, fig. 2, and pp. 220, no. 72.

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