A BAMBOO CARVED 'ORCHID PAVILION GATHERING' RECTANGULAR TABLE SCREEN 19th centuryA BAMBOO CARVED 'ORCHID PAVILION GATHERING' RECTANGULAR TABLE SCREEN19th century The rectangular screen intricately carved in varying layers of relief through the rich brown colour of the bamboo, one side with a lakeside terrace scene with scholars and their attendants, nestled amongst jagged rockwork, pine, paulownia, willow and bamboo trees; the other side with two poems, of which the second poem can be recognised as the second prose of Lanting shi (lit. the poem of the Orchid Pavilion) composed by the Jin dynasty poet Yuan Qiaozhi, inscribed by qitai and a seal of his, reading shi, all supported on an elaborately carved stand with an apron carved with stylised archaistic bands. 48cm (19in) wide x 38cm (15in) high.十九世紀 竹雕蘭亭雅集圖插屏 The present lot took its inspiration from the very well-known preface Lanting Xu (Preface to the Orchid Pavilion) composed by the most celebrated Chinese calligrapher, Wang Xizhi (c.303-361), regarded as 'the Sage of Calligraphy'. The scene illustrated on the table screen took place in the 9th year of the Yonghe reign (353), of the Eastern Jin dynasty, when forty-two scholars were invited to the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting), near Shanyin, Zhejiang province, for the Spring Purification Festival. Scholars were required to take part in a poetry competition and a drinking contest with wine cups flowing down a winding creek; those who failed to come up with a poem would have to drink in forfeit.Lanting Xu was one of the most celebrated works of literature and had a profound influence on later generations. Literati thereafter copied this canonical preface onto stone and ink-rubbings, table screens, ink cakes, and many other scholarly objects. The present screen demonstrates a high level of vibrant and crisp carving skills in depicting the events taking place and the naturalistic rendering of the plants.取竹根為材，攢框成屏，深浮雕亭台樓榭之間雕文士十數人彈琴、飲酒、作詩、觀畫、遊船等活動，水榭山石間又雕仕女數人憑欄而眺，園中松木參天，竹林、蕉石掩映，童子數人侍奉杯盞茶事、酒事往來其間，畫面繁密，層次豐富，十分熱鬧。 畫面下方有童子戲鵝，加之其他童子侍奉杯盞，應是指代蘭亭雅集。晉穆帝永和九年（公元353）三月三日，時任會稽內史的王羲之與友人謝安、孫綽等四十一人會聚蘭亭，賦詩飲酒，此一典故成為後世各類藝術作品創作題材，明清竹雕常加以發揮，惟人物裝束自是明清當時面貌。 插屏背光陰刻詩文「癸丑蘭亭盛況興，群賢畢至感懷生。形骸放浪欣娛趣，觴詠臨流暢敘情。慨世悲時察今古，嗟長痛短悟殤彭。雖無竹絲管絃樂，修禊山陰惠氣清。」以及「四眺華林茂，俯仰清川渙。激水流芳醪，豁爾累心散。遐想逸民軌，遺音良可翫。古人詠舞雩，今也同斯歎。」落款「其泰」，刻印「時」。後詩為晉袁嶠之《蘭亭詩》之二。