A GOURD 'FIGHTING COCKEREL' VESSELKangxi shangwan mark The waisted vessel, possibly a cricket cage or brushpot, delicately carved around the exterior with a continuous scene of two fighting cockerels, amidst gnarled rocks issuing blossoming peonies, two butterflies flittering above, calligraphic inscription reading ' zhengdou tu ' ('image of fighting'). 12.5cm (5in) high. Please note this Lot is to be sold at No Reserve. 本拍品不設底價 「爭鬥圖」匏製罐 「康熙賞玩」款 The present lot may have originally been a cricket cage. Raising crickets was a favourite pastime of the Chinese and Manchu elite, who would raise them not just for their singing, but also to fight. The theme of battle would be fitting as the present lot is decorated with two fighting cockerels. The rustic origins of the gourd and its association with containing Daoist elixirs of Immortality made gourd objects highly appreciated by the Qing court and by the literati elite. A major period of development in the moulding of gourds started when the Kangxi Emperormissioned gourd vessels to be made in the Palace Workshop which transformed this folk craft into an Imperial art form. For a detailed discussion of the early history of moulded Imperial gourds see Wang Shixiang, 'Moulded gourds', Gugong Bowuyuan yuankan , 1979, no.1, pp.86-91. See a moulded gourd 'shou' medallion bowl, Shangwan mark and period of Kangxi, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 October 2018, lot 3401.