In the palace

You’re in the Imperial Palace and stumble upon this object. What is it? A ceramic crown or headpiece? A cutlery or a pipe holder?

This object is a brush rest used during the Ming Zhengde dynasty period (1505 – 1521). The porcelain object comprises five peaks meant to allow space to divide four brushes in one resting place. When visualized together, the peaks represent a mountain form. The object is made of porcelain painted with cobalt blue and covered in a transparent glaze. This brush rest is blue and white, with Persian inscriptions ‘pen’ and ‘holder’ on the sides.

Such material and style are typical Jingdezhen ware. The bottom mark ‘made in Ming Zhengde 大明正德年製’ shows that it is an imperial court object. The marking was made in the scribal department. The brush rest was used by eunuchs in court.

The brush rest from the Metropolitan Museum is one of many similar objects that have survived. Matching pen rests can be found in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. While similar in shape and decorative design, our object is slightly different from similar style brush rests in other museums.

The difference lies in a typically unobserved section of the brush rest.