A PORCELAIN BALUSTER VASE WITH POLYCHROME DECORATIONChina, Republic periodThe polychrome decoration on the outside consisting of a glimpse of landscape with rocks, flowers and bamboos in which seven characters are engaged in various activities, six-character apocryphal Qianlong mark to the center of the base.47 cm highProvenance: Italian private collection.The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (Zhulin qixian) is a group of scholars, writers and musicians lived in the third century AD. To escape the pressing rules of the Confucian government, the seven took refuge in the home of one of them immersed in a bamboo grove. They were thus able to devote themselves to their artistic passions, often indulging in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.