The porcelain brush pot is decorated with a painted design of a grief stricken lady holding a piece of paper. She leans against a rock, gazing at the falling leaves. The scene depicts a poetic moment of melancholy, which can be summed up in the verse, ‘the autumn wind blowing and leaves falling yet there is no sight of her loved one’. Brush pots were a typical accoutrement of a Chinese scholar’s desk. The Chinese literati valued beauty that was inspired by nature, and this preference was vividly reflected in the objects they chose for their studios.
