Description

一個小小的硯屏, 它的組成包含了多種著名工藝在一身，用上了各種不同的材料, 包括一片有微彫的象牙，刻劃的瓷板畫，剔紅壽章，花梨屏架 ，透彫象牙花邊等．充份代表了文人所爱好的雅玩．

瓷板畫繪的是風塵三侠圖. 富有清代的畫風，人物顧盼自然．形態萬千．微雕錄的是”紅拂女夜投李靖賦”．文字刻在8×3公分的象牙片上，雖是細小的微雕，然而字體卻一點兒也不苟且，放大了來看，简直是一手好行書, 龍飛鳯舞、行雲流水，蒼勁有力．

總體來看，這是一件集書法、繪畫、家具及各種工藝美術在一身的精品．也有可能是一件由多位名家組成的集體即興作品． 微彫的作者是吳南愚(1894-1942),名嶽，書香世代，自幼勤力苦學雕刻，難得的是他的文字和畫藝根底都很好，書法精通草行楷隸．他的專長是在作品上做到書畫並重，能在極小的象牙物件上像繪畫似的來刻字畫．遠近聞名．《蕉窗話扇》裏説他的”刻象牙稱神技，與嘯仙齊名, 能於指頂許牙片刻數百言古文一篇, 以凸鏡窺之, 居然天際烏雲帖筆勢, 畫亦能具六法”. 最可惜的是在日軍侵華期間, 他和父親所辦的縹湘美術社被曰軍劫掠了. 在家鄉的位宅又遭洗劫. 他一生的創作和藏品全部失去, 令人感嘆萬千.
[趣雅樓藏品] 微彫部份

A table screen comprised of multiple work of art in one. Its main picture is a porcelain panel engraved with the characters from the novel of the Three Dusty Cavaliers (Knight-errants). It shows the Lady of Red Duster ran to meet up with Li Jing, one of the other two mates, in the middle of the night. Another smaller ivory plaque is the micro engraving of the story itself. The whole frame is Huanghuali woodwork. Around the edges it is decorated with pierced ivory in lace forms. In front of the base panel is a cinnabar medallion.

The ivory plaque looks small, yet it is the main attraction of the whole screen. The artist NG Nam-Yu (1894-1942) was a leading micro engraver of the time. Since young, he was exposed to art and calligraphy in the family. He excelled himself in multiple styles of calligraphy. He was famous for working on small objects. He was not only able to contain large amount of writings in a tiny space, but also did it as artistic as if it is in normal size.
Unfortunately most of his artworks were lost when his studio was raided by the Japanese army during the Japanese military occupation in China. The discovery of this screen in Melbourne is a surprise found.

Overall size: 33.5×19 cm.
Ivory: 8×3 cm
1930-40