Page 142 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

THE QIANLONG EMPEROR’S
‘BAZHENG MAONIAN ZHI BAO’ SEAL
Guo Fuxiang
The Qianlong period (1736–1795) of the Qing
dynasty is widely recognised as a prosperous
age. As a result of developments during the
Kangxi (1662–1722) and Yongzheng (1723–1735)
periods, Chinese society, economy, and culture
achieved unprecedented prosperity during the
Qianlong period. Along with these developments,
the production of works of art achieved a
high standard and in many ways displayed
an atmosphere of grace associated with this
age of peace and prosperity. Seal making, in
particular, developed features peculiar to the
age, namely, a tendency to record important
events and note successes. The Qianlong
Emperor, during his life, experienced many
personally significant historical milestones, such a genuine legacy of the Qianlong period. Here I
as his seventieth birthday in 1780, the birth of
a great-great-grandson in 1784, his eightieth
birthday in 1790, and his retirement from the
throne in 1795. For each of these milestones,
the Qianlong Emperor seems invariably to
have made meticulous arrangements, and
he left behind many documents and artifacts
for later generations to investigate. Among
these documents and artifacts, the Qianlong
Emperor’s seals are, without doubt, worthy of
great attention. Qianlong’s personal moments
serve as the background story to many of these
seals, and seek to give concrete expression to
his circumstances and emotions at the time. To
140 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
commemorate his coming eightieth birthday in
1790, he made the seal Bazheng maonian zhi bao,
to be offered at auction by Sotheby’s Hong Kong.
The seal, made of jade, has a knop of intertwined
dragons. The seal face is worked with six raised
characters, Bazheng maonian zhi bao, and is 6.4
centimeters square. There is a clear record of
this seal in Qianlong Baosou (Qianlong Treasures:
A Catalogue of Impressions of the Qianlong
Emperor’s Seals). Compared with what we find
in the Qianlong Baosou, the seal matches in all
particulars, including the seal material, size, style on the throne and his seventieth birthday, had
of the seal script, or the layout of the characters.
We can thus be certain that this seal is indeed
will briefly discuss the historical background that
enables the reader to better appreciate the value
and significance of the seal.
The year 1790 was an important year for the
Qianlong Emperor. This year was not only the
fifty-fifth year of his reign, but also the year
of his eightieth birthday. According to the
Emperor’s own practice, every fifth birthday
was a milestone year and was the occasion for
a great celebration. In the Emperor’s mind, the
auspicious circumstance of the fifty-fifth year
of his reign, corresponding to the year of his
eightieth birthday, called for an especially grand
celebration. Hence, early on, in mid-autumn of
1789, the Qianlong Emperor began preparations
for a great celebration, including those for the
palace where he would receive congratulations,
the scale of the celebrations, and the return gifts
to provinces and vassal states presenting tribute.
And creating a seal appropriate to the occasion
was an important part of these preparations.
Actually, in making a seal to commemorate a
milestone birthday, there was a precedent that
the Qianlong Emperor could follow. In 1720 the
Kangxi Emperor, approaching his sixtieth year
the idea of creating a multipurpose seal, and he
ordered his more literate Inner Court scholar-
officials (graduates of the Hanlin Academy) to
compose an appropriate phrase, but since none
of their phrases were to his liking, he himself
came up with the phrase Jie zhi zai de ([In old
age] beware of complacency; a quote from the
Analects) and had several small seals carved.1 In
1780 the Qianlong Emperor, for his seventieth
birthday, followed the Kangxi Emperor’s practice
and had two seals carved with the phrases Guxi
tianzi zhi bao (Seal of the seventy-year-old
Emperor; an allusion to a poem by Du Fu [712–
770]) and You ri zizi (Ever diligent day by day),
thereby commemorating his seventieth birthday
and at the same time expressing the thought that
he dare not be lax in governing. Then, ten years
later, it was inevitable that the Qianlong Emperor