Burled Brushwasher

Hand-carved from a cypress tree burl, this late 19th-century burlwood bowl was once used by a Qing-dynasty scholar to rinse the ink from his calligraphy brush. Placed alongside the Four Treasures of the scholar - paper, brush, ink, and inkstone - this brushwasher would have stirred the imagination and satisfied the scholars' taste for natural forms. We love the gnarled and twisted form of this burled brush pot as a decorative bowl or an unexpected planter for a single orchid.